Starlink now accounts for at least a fifth of New Zealand's rural broadband market. File photo.
A regional wireless broadband provider wants the government to heed the warning that rural New Zealand risks relying too heavily on one satellite internet provider.
Rural New Zealanders fed up with poor yet expensive connectivity lead the rapid uptake of Starlink's high-speed satellite internet, since its entry into New Zealand in 2021.
Starlink - the company owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX - now accounts for at least a fifth of New Zealand's rural broadband market, being found in many rural schools, farms, households and also used by Civil Defence emergency services.
The rise in its global Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite service came as New Zealand's copper network was set to be retired by 2030.
