Public perception of the Starlink Satellite project in a developing country

Abstract

Starlink is a long-term project to address disparities in rural broadband Internet access that is led by SpaceX and Elon Musk. The project’s goal is to launch thousands of smallsat-class satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) as part of a mega-constellation to provide continuous, high-speed Internet around the world. SpaceX believes that its technology can outperform the competition by using shallow orbits. When compared to traditional geosynchronous satellite Internet infrastructure, Starlink promises lower latency and higher-quality connections to its customers (Walker & Elliott, 2021). This study aims to investigate the public perception of the Starlink Satellite project in Thailand. A quantitative approach was used and an online questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a convenience sample of 1,258 participants in Thailand. Binary regression analysis was performed to analyse the data. The findings revealed that the public perception of the Starlink Satellite project in Thailand could be described by gender, age, computer, laptop, tablet, wearable device, Internet duration, mobile Internet, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Consequently, Starlink should devise an effective strategy to entice users to increase their awareness and use satellite Internet in countries where fibre Internet is more affordable and convenient.