2degrees named first local reseller for Starlink Business, sends kits to emergency services

Starlink satellite broadband helped plug communications gaps after telco networks on the East Coast fell over. Photo / Supplied

2degrees has been named as the second local reseller for Elon Musk’s Starlink - which delivers broadband via a satellite.

The telco will offer Starlink’s business-grade product. It joins the recently appointed Noel Leeming, which is selling Starlink’s cheaper consumer-grade kit.

While Starlink’s consumer product costs $1040 for a dish, cable and wi-fi model (currently on a half-price special), then charges $159 per month for unlimited data with promises around speed, Starlink Business requires a larger, higher-gain, $4200 satellite dish and costs $840 per month. It promises 350 megabits per second download speed - on par with most UFB fibre.

2degrees has yet to confirm pricing, but says the rates for ordering from Starlink online (as above) are a good indication.

The telco will also offer an installation service for those who don’t want to DIY. Pricing has yet to be set. Noel Leeming charges $149 for a basic consumer install.

Starlink grabbed headlines during the Cyclone Gabrielle response. NEMA flew 18 Starlink kits into Gisborne, Napier and Wairoa, while East Coast iwi Ngāti Porou chartered a small plane and chopper to deliver 31 Starlink kits to connect remote communities.

Today, 2degrees chief executive Mark Callander said his firm had accelerated plans to introduce a Starlink Business offering, sending 10 enterprise-grade devices to emergency services to help with Cyclone recovery efforts, and is opening registrations of interest from its business customers.

Customers who register today will be able to get a Starlink Business kit as soon as it can be airfreighted from Vocus Australia.

2degrees inherited links to Starlink when it merged with Vocus NZ (branded as Orcon Group) mid-way through last year.

Starlink has six ground stations in NZ. Musk’s firm partnered with Vocus NZ on three, and Cello on three, an insider says. The insider also said late last year that Starlink gained 10,000 NZ customers over its first year or so of operation - thanks in part to a surprisingly old-school promotional campaign that included airport billboards, pamphlet drops in letter boxes and printed newspaper advertising.

Satellite broadband has been around for ages, but Starklink’s twist is that it doesn’t have one bird tens of thousands of kilometres above the Earth (leading to expensive, laggy service with tight data caps) but thousands of low-Earth orbiting satellites for relatively cheap and speedy service by satellite standards, and no data limits.

The recently introduced second-generation of Starlink’s kit can also be unplugged, and taken to a bach or used with the likes of a camper van.

Early adopters’ verdicts have been broadly positive.