The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved Starlink’s application for a BITS licence.
SpaceX had applied for a Basic International Telecommunications Services (BITS) license on May 15th. The CRTC notes that it received 2,585 interventions regarding the application, and has granted the company a BITS licence.
“The commission notes that a BITS licence does not by itself authorize an entity to operate as a facilities-based carrier or non-facilities-based service provider,” the CRTC’s Secretary Council Claude Doucet stated in a letter to SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen.
“All entities who provide services as a facilities-based carrier must at all times comply with the appropriate regulatory framework, including the ownership and control requirements of section 16 of the Act and the Canadian Telecommunications Common Carrier Ownership and Control Regulations,” the letter reads.
The CRTC’s approval of a BITS licence is a step forward for the company, but SpaceX still has some work to do before it is fully approved for its satellite service in Canada.
Starlink aims to leverage an extensive network of hundreds of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites to provide high-speed internet across parts of the U.S. and Canada.
Elon Musk recently tweeted that SpaceX will hopefully be able to launch a public beta in southern Canada once the satellites reach their positions.
SpaceX is currently conducting private beta testing of Starlink, and revealed that it has achieved download speeds of up to 100Mbps.
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