It’s over Starlink In Ontario, according to the leader of the Canadian provincial, Doug Ford. Ford said at a press conference on Tuesday that due to US tariffs introduced against Canada – which was delayed from Thursday until April, Ontario canceled a $ 100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company it signed in November.
“We are ripping Ontario’s contract with Starlink. It’s done. It’s gone. We do not assign contracts to people who enable and encourage financial attacks on our province and our country,” Ford said.
This is not the first time the contract is said to be canceled. In early February, when Customs against Canada was imminent, Ford said it would be canceled. But it was apparently put on a wait as Customs against Canada and Mexico were delayed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
At that time, Musk, CEO of SpaceX, answered the company that owns Starlink, via X, “Oh well.”
Starlink and SpaceX have not publicly commented on the second cancellation news, and an e -mail to SpaceX seeking an answer was not immediately returned.
On March 6, Trump announced that he suspended most tariffs in Mexico and Canada in another month, putting them to begin again on April 2nd.
The contract was intended to provide high -speed internet services to rural areas and citizens of northern Ontario. Starlink is estimated to have about 533,000 customers in Canada, and it is unclear what will happen to Ontario residents who are already dependent on Starlink’s Internet service. Satellite companies with business in Canada include Telestat, which builds a service called Lightspeed, but it is not expected to be launched for several years.
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Unclear what will happen to customers
Micah Walter-Range, president of the space consult company Caelus partners and contributors to the S-Network Space Index Fund, said the cancellation creates an opportunity for other ISPs and satellite companies based in Canada or regions, including Europe.
But Walter-Range added, it is unlikely that Ontario’s steps will put Starlink’s overall business at risk.
“The company is unlikely to take a significant hit for now,” he said. “In many places, Starlink is simply the best available option, though customers do not like Musk or Trump administration. Recent events create incentives for governments and other customers to seek alternatives in the long term.”
Walter-Range said that alternatives such as Telestat are currently dependent on higher quality satellites that provide lower quality Internet service. For Lightspeed, “it will take some time beyond it for enough satellites to be operational to provide a solid service,” he said.
Despite the ontario ban, some customers may still be able to do business with Starlink.
“Unless the Canadian government prohibits Starlink at national level and revokes its permission to transfer signals over Canada, a customer buying from Starlink should not be affected directly,” Walter-Range said. “But if a Canadian resident gets access through a subsidized government program that uses Starlink as a provider, they could be switched to another option or possibly nothing at all.”