Elon Musk's SpaceX Was Looking To Offer Starlink In Ukraine Even Before Russian Invasion — The War Just Sped Up The Process

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk's SpaceX was yet to receive approval from Ukrainian authorities to offer internet services before the Russian invasion and the war accelerated the process, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a company executive.

What Happened: The approval documents to launch Starlink were yet to be signed ahead of the war, according to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, as reported by Bloomberg. SpaceX is now offering consumer connections in a war zone.

“We were close to getting the approvals to offer service but the documents weren’t all signed,” Shotwell said at a conference in Washington on Tuesday, as per the report. 

The SpaceX executive suggested Ukraine government officials tweeting at his “boss” — supposedly referring to Musk — was taken as “permission to provide capability.”

See Also: How Is Elon Musk's Starlink Service Working Out In Ukraine? An Engineer Shares His Experience

Why It Matters: The world’s richest person in February responded to Ukraine's plea to provide Starlink stations. He has since ensured deliveries of thousands of satellite internet kits to Ukraine, according to authorities in the war-torn country.

Starlink beams down high-speed internet via satellites in orbit to Earth, especially to remote areas, including those ravaged by war or natural calamity.

France and Poland are among nations helping fund the Starlink terminal shipments to Ukraine, Shotwell was quoted as saying.

Starlink has plans to launch 4,425 satellites in orbit by 2024. SpaceX is known to have launched over 2,000 satellites.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved 11,943 satellites to be launched by Starlink.

Price Action: Tesla stock closed 7.9% higher at $993.9 a share on Tuesday.

Photo from Kyiv City Council via Wikimedia