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ItsKeegs95 t1_iv2n3n6 wrote

Reply to comment by hawklost in Ukraine suffered a comms outage when 1,300 SpaceX satellite units went offline over funding issues by thatoneguy889

Can you link the article? Everything I've seen so far says the opposite. I've seen reports that USAID paid for some of the starlink devices but DOD didn't pay for the actual monthly service and was provided by Musk for free.

I've seen reporting like this : "Documents obtained by CNN show that last month Musk’s SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon saying it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has. The letter also requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine’s government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would cost more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months.

“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote to the Pentagon in the September letter."

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hawklost t1_iv2sn1q wrote

Part of the article above

"SpaceX was charging Ukraine’s military $2,500 a month to keep each of the 1,300 units connected, pushing the total cost to almost $20 million by September, the person briefed on the matter said. Eventually, they could no longer afford to pay, the person said."

This indicates that Ukraine was paying and stopped because they couldn't afford it.

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ItsKeegs95 t1_iv2uglt wrote

Okay my article skimming failed me and its seems like we're both right... but credit to you because my impression was that Musk was paying for all of it and I was wrong.

Later in that article: "The far more expensive part, however, is the ongoing connectivity. SpaceX says it has paid for about 70% of the service provided to Ukraine and claims to have offered that highest level – $4,500 a month – to all terminals in Ukraine despite the majority only having signed on for the cheaper $500 per month service."

So it seems like the US, Poland, Ukraine and NGOS were paying for some of the service but SpaceX was donating a portion of it service also.

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