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Greenland’s national telco, Tusass, signs new agreement with Eutelsat
- timpera 1y agoIt's pretty cool to see competition from SpaceX ramping up. I didn't know that OneWeb already has 652 satellites in operation.
- DonHopkins 1y agoI'm just worried the British will start orbiting satellites in the opposite direction as the rest of the world, for the same reason they drive on the left side of the road. ;)
- 2rsf 1y agoSomewhat related to that, but Israel is launching satellites in the opposite direction than the rest of the world when they launch from their shores, this is so the launch is done over the Mediterranean sea and not their neighbors.
- lifeisstillgood 1y agoEven more tangential - one of the “disaster” scenarios is a satellite collision - either East/West vs West/East or East/West vs North/South. The debris then would act as shrapnel taking out more and more satellites. There is an assumption that such a loss would be a prelude to a major attack - but cock up is always more likely.
- perihelions 1y agoThere's already a broad range of inclinations spanning from equatorial to polar (and slightly beyond polar (slightly "backwards"), for sun-synchronous orbits)—they already have enormous relative velocities, at up to 90-degree relative angles. Satellites going completely "backwards" wouldn't meaningfully make things worse.
- imron 1y agoHow did they launch their satellites?
- N-Krause 1y agoSeems like they partnered with SpaceX. https://www.ipinternational.net/oneweb-and-spacex-a-surprising-communications-partnership/ https://www.ipinternational.net/oneweb-and-spacex-a-surprisi...
- sehansen 1y agoFrom a quick skim of their Wikipedia page[0]: basically anything they could get their hands on. Arianes 1 through 5, Atlas II and III, Delta IV, Proton, Zenit, Long March 3, Falcon 9. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutelsat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutelsat
- saubeidl 1y agoI've long been of the opinion that launchers are more or less commodities, the interesting stuff is what you shoot up.
- throwaway48476 1y agoNot all launches are the same. ULA is still more competitive in geo.
- sp0ck 1y agoCalling them "competitor" is eufemism. Cheapest plan (Anchor) is $625/month for 40 GB, with 10/2 Mbps speeds. Greenland decision was political not technical to pay x5 more for x10 slower service.
- kotaKat 1y agoAnd terminal costs will be through the roof in comparison. Who else out there is making full-on beamforming capable satellite terminals under $1k? Kymeta's over $20k+ for a single dish. People may hate the company and the man behind it but there's something special about being able to grab specialized satcoms hardware for like $300 at Best Buy. 10 years ago a BGAN terminal ran me $5000+ and a 384k connection several thousand bucks a month. Now you can get ~512k for $5 a month in Standby Mode on a $300 dish.
- kitd 1y agoHow do you know Greenland are paying consumer prices?
- mlrtime 1y agoYou're right, they're most likely paying more!
- CaptainOfCoit 1y ago> Greenland decision was political not technical to pay x5 more for x10 slower service. I dunno, is "bus factor" a political or technical thing to consider? How about "did the country of this business threaten us before?" a technical or political consideration? Personally, I'd try to stay away from entities I can't rely on, on a technical basis. Based on the article, it seems like Greenland traded stability and resilience for performance and price, doesn't seem political.
- nottorp 1y agoI haven't seen a cookie dialog that toxic in a while...
- sehansen 1y agoHow so? It's two clicks to reject everything. There aren't even any "Legitimate Interest" shenanigans like Google Funding Choices has.
- nottorp 1y agoI clicked once and couldn't see the button to reject everything... Might be because i'm on a 14" laptop and it didn't fit on screen.
- t1E9mE7JTRjf 1y agolol two clicks just to be able to do what you original were doing is terrible.
- sehansen 1y agoCompared to your average site using the Google Funding Choices dialog where I just counted 11 clicks to reject everything. https://tvtropes.org/ https://tvtropes.org/ is an example, if you dare.
- lqet 1y agoClick on "settings", and be surprised what "accept all" means. Note: each of the tabs on the left has their own "vendors" you may grant access. In total, there are over 800 toggle switches.
- jampekka 1y agoIt's indeed rare to see the fine-grained item toggles only nowadays. But at least they are all off by default (unless I fell into some sort of dark pattern and misunderstood). Still quite clearly illegal though. Rejecting tracking should be as easy as accepting it.
- 1y ago
- sehansen 1y agoThat's a pretty damn editorialized title[0] given that Tusass signed an extended deal with their original provider. To me the chosen title implies that Tusass had chosen Starlink and then decided to stop using them. Starlink did submit a tender offer, but losing to an established competitor isn't super newsworthy. 0: No shade thrown at the submitter, as this is the title used by the site.
- philipallstar 1y agoThis sort of thing does feel like endless bias. I know some people lean into it and love to read the worst case, criminal prosecutor version of events, but I find it really off-putting.
- rkomorn 1y agoIt's not bias. It's clickbait.
- maelito 1y agoI think the title has to be read as "Greenland does not take the Starlink option despite it being the only internet satellite brand that the english speaking world talks about". Hence the "ditch". But you're right, it's a bad title.
- wateralien 1y agoIs the read-between-the-lines part here that Elon / SpaceX is too aligned with the USA government and their aspirations to take over Greenland to be trusted with their comms infra?
- nolok 1y agoThat's clearly what the author of that article want to say, but the truth is that Greenland has a centralized access (people go through the national provider to get access, and said provider uses others' solutions in the backend), while Starlink offer was for a direct to consumer system; they were simply not answering to the criterias requested.
- simondotau 1y agoThis is pretty much exactly correct. This comment should be pinned to the top of this whole thread, because it does nobody any good when "alternative facts" are valued more highly than a boring truth.
- mlrtime 1y agoBut then this article would be buried and the gears of the internet wouldn't continue to spin. We all know at this point that rage == clicks == ad revenue.
- rob74 1y ago> Tusass had also been in talks with Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, but chose to continue working with Eutelsat. "Ditches" sounds like they were already using Starlink, but abandoned it in favor of Eutelsat's system. The text clarifies that they only decided to (continue to) use Eutelsat, and Starlink was just another option considered. > Binzer said it was not about which company was better, but about trust and long-term cooperation. Well, who can blame them? After Trump repeatedly expressed "interest" in owning Greenland (fortunately he seems to have moved on to other pet projects in the meantime), and with Musk being one of Trump's closest allies, it would be a bit naive to trust Starlink...
- etiennebausson 1y agoYeah, as a french citizen I am happy to see Eutelsat get a new contract, but saying Starlink was ditched is poor journalism. Don't know the publication, but it seems to be a Danish publishing in English.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoI'm also not a native English speaker, but ditched seems to mean: > to get rid of something or someone that is no longer wanted: They were considering two contracts, with two different companies, and were in talks with both of them. If they stop considering one of those contracts/companies, wouldn't it be accurate to say they "ditched" that bid/contract then? I guess the misleading part could be that "ditched" might implicitly imply they were already using Starlink, but the "ditched" used in the title is actually about the contract, not established service?
- simondotau 1y ago"Ditched" generally means to abandon something you had already chosen or started using. Example: “My car broke down, so I ditched it.” A more appropriate term here would be "rejected" which means to decide against something prior to accepting it. Example: “I was going to buy that car, but I rejected their offer.”
- 1y ago
- subroutine 1y agoThe modern news website: 15 sentences, 6 Shutterstock photos, 35 ads
- onion2k 1y agoThe news industry: "Google are killing us! Give us money!"
- andrepd 1y ago? Yes? That's exactly what's happening, google's and meta's algos dictate which sites get traffic which is why every website is slowly but surely turning into clickbait/reels.
- MaxL93 1y agoWell, it's a bit off-topic, but yes, Google is demonstrably killing the fabric of the Internet. Ever since they introduced the info box & knowledge graph, pretty much every change they've introduced is geared towards one goal: they don't want to just be a guide, they want to be the journey AND the destination. All the latest AI efforts are the apotheosis, the extreme logical conclusion of that. Surely I don't need to explain how this makes them extremely similar to a parasite killing its host, how this degrades the very ecosystem their foundations are built on?
- flowrange 1y agoIt's as if they're trying to mimic a Twitter post thread, fearing that people won't have the attention span to read a regular article. This is the equivalent to jump cuts in videos.
- system2 1y agoAt least we don't see the ads.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoDon't forget: > This article is made and published by Anna Hartz, which may have used AI in the preparation The editors don't even know for sure if the author used AI or not.
- ltbarcly3 1y agoWhy does there need to be a 'state solution' when there is an affordable retail solution that individuals/families/groups can just purchase themselves? Answer: Because of corruption! It's illegal to use Starlink in Greenland, and Tusass holds a concessioned monopoly over “telecommunications services in, to and from Greenland” and the underlying infrastructure! https://www.aqutsisut.gl/en/tele/satellite-regulation https://www.aqutsisut.gl/en/tele/satellite-regulation Tusass was in talks with Starlink to basically provide Starlink service but via the Tusass monopoly, basically making Tusass a no-value-added reseller of Starlink at massively inflated prices (subsidized of course, basically being paid by the Danish government to do nothing besides cash checks while Starlink does everything else). This is so obviously corrupt that it's better for them to use a worse, more expensive service that doesn't make Tusass completely pointless.
- clan 1y agoDamned if you do.Damned if you dont't. With 56,831 inhabitants and those spread rather thinly I assume they enjoyed the years when it was both expensive and heavily subsidised. Without heavy government support I would claim nothing would happen. Times are changing and commercial offerings starts to be viable. But the outlook of being in the pocket of StarLink is not too appealing. I think they would prefer other options in Ukraine these days. And if you notice the relations between Denmark (the only country outside US to celebrate the 4th of July) is at a record low. Free markets you say? Tariffs I say!
- saubeidl 1y agoThe answer is more likely national security. Starlink is run by an ally of the government that has repeatedly threatened Greenland with invasion.
- Sporktacular 1y agoThe US diverts trunks for interception and active attacks all the time. Jamming the internet to Greenland during an invasion would be trivial on multiple levels. This will make virtually no difference to national security. Good for the monopoly provider though.
- Copenjin 1y agoI see many of you focusing on the misuse of "ditches" while you should focus on the use of the word "trust" by those who signed the contract. Pretty sure it will not be the last time we see this kind of reasoning.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoWas there a moment in time "trust" wasn't one of the biggest factors of the decision to sign or not sign a contract? The only thing that has changed is who you can trust long-term, but I think trust has always been one of the top factors.
- VagabundoP 1y agoThere was an illusion you could trust certain countries, political institutions and, for some bizarre reason, certain billionaires-cum-oligarchs. Recent upheavals and actions have really pushed people to question exactly who and what you can trust. Also the recent focus on strategic elements with regard to globalisation also plays into these choices now - where it might have been dismissed a couple of years ago.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y ago> There was an illusion you could trust certain countries, political institutions and, for some bizarre reason, certain billionaires-cum-oligarchs. Granted you live in a neat place, those two first ones are still reasonable to trust in your day-to-day life, and in those same places the latter was never worshiped on the same level that happened in the US.
- varjag 1y agoDenmark is pretty neat place to live in, alas.
- dotancohen 1y agoThat established trust has always been the Goliath that SpaceX challenged. Boeing was the only trusted company for the Commercial Crew contract, ULA was the only trusted company for payload delivery, etc.
- timonoko 1y ago[flagged]
- inemesitaffia 1y agoThis is nonsense BTW. Every phrase
- squarefoot 1y ago"I asked Grokipedia"
- johnjames87 1y ago[flagged]
- sofixa 1y agoDescribing doing a Nazi salute on national TV, as well as clearly and publicly saying that his AI chatbot isn't lying enough as "wrong politics" is weird and very generous. I guess Pol Pot also just had "wrong politics", why did the Vietnamese have to go in to depose him?
- johnjames87 1y agoEven Piers Morgan acknowledged that that "salute" was a "my heart goes out to you" and not a nazi salute, but with the latent tribalism we have in politics, I'm sure you will refuse to even consider that as a possibility. And the comparison with pol pot is just downright dumb. Elon Musk as always been pro freedom.
- saubeidl 1y ago"Even" the right wing talk show host Piers Morgan, well I'm convinced. Elon Musk as always been pro freedom, except when people disagree with him or he doesn't like them: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-chad-loder-twitter-b2271556.html https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...
- johnjames87 1y agoAnti-gun Piers Morgan is now right wing.
- sofixa 1y agoPiers Morgan is English. It might be shocking for some Americans, but pro/anti gun is a political issue almost exclusively in the US. In the rest of the developed world, nobody is "pro" gun. Even far right loons (and I mean proper loons, like a motorist party or a bunch of weirdos screaming about vaccines in parliament) in the EU aren't "pro"-guns. And yes, Piers Morgan is on the right of the spectrum as it exists in the UK and EU.
- ta1243 1y agoStarlink is run by a company based in a country which has threatened to invade Greenland, with a CEO who is aligned with the leadership of that country.
- Sporktacular 1y agoThe sentiment is understandable. But jamming the satellite trunks to another country during an invasion would not be difficult for the US. It's not clear how choosing a French provider will prevent that.
- ta1243 1y agoThere's a lot of ground between Ally (which Greenland and the US were in 2024) and Active invasion Starlink removing service is nowhere near as extreme as America jamming starlink (which would be a breach of international treaties)
- mlrtime 1y agoDo you have credible evidence that the US is not an ally? I'm not talking about words said, hypotheticals etc. I mean actual laws passed?
- saubeidl 1y agoWords said is all that humans will ever have. Do not downplay them.
- mlrtime 1y agoNo, doing things is what we do. Words sometimes help with this, but the actions are what counts. Watch what people do, not what they say.
- riversflow 1y agoIn diplomacy words are actions.
- roschdal 1y agoOui madam
- yard2010 1y agoHow did we get to a time when clicking back in the browser makes a website show a bunch of cancer inducing apps including a picture of Putin? I didn't even read the article after being greeted by an unremovable ad, trying to escape this dystopic nightmare by going back.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y ago> How did we get to a time when clicking back in the browser makes a website show a bunch "How" I'm not sure about, but it's been like that for decades at this point, so if you haven't yet adapted and started filtering out that stuff, that's kind of on you. Install a adblocker and be done with it already :)
- oldestofsports 1y ago[flagged]
- fmajid 1y agoThe new CEO of Eutelsat, Jean-François Fallacher, was previously the CEO of Orange France, the country’s incumbent telco, a much bigger company. He is a member of France’s senior civil service and this shows how seriously France and the EU are taking the strategic and sovereignty risks of depending on US-controlled infrastructure. Greenland, of course, is even more concerned due to Trump’s threats.
- DrScientist 1y agoObviously, it's hard to see under the current circumstances ( US belligerence and Musk's willingness to use his companies for political ends ) - how the decision would go any other way. The interesting question is to what extent this is symptomatic of a wider pattern where governments and companies around the world are making such decisions for similar reasons.
- exasperaited 1y agoIndeed —- choosing Starlink would be a security risk since Musk is totally willing to black out a country's service based on his own interpretations of situations. I have no knowledge of who has deals and who doesn't, but more countries will find themselves in this situation — if you were picking countries who might see quasi-state embargo from a Trump-aligned oligarch this week, you'd pick Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Colombia. Next week, who knows.
- mrits 1y agoThere isn't a company on the planet that wouldn't stop service based on their own interpretations of situations.
- stingraycharles 1y agoMost companies just operate based on what the law allows them / tells them to do. There are examples of companies where the owner is very politically involved and uses their companies as a means to influence politics, of which Starlink seems to be one.
- mrits 1y agoI can't think of a single case that Starlink ever acted out politically, except the popular debunked one in Ukraine
- DrScientist 1y ago
- kragen 1y agoLEO satellite communications constellations like OneWeb and Starlink seem like they could make a big difference in what kinds of operations you could carry out in places like northern Greenland or central Australia.
- shevy-java 1y agoThis is actually good news in that Greenland decided that the USA isn't the number #1 option right now. The EU really needs to become a better alternative than the USA, so allowing superrich billionaires to hold the rest of the world hostage (aka Starlink) should be an objective by the EU to put a permanent end to. Outsourcing security onto the USA under Trump also was never going to work - he works for Putin, we all know that.
- hugoromano 1y agoEutelsat maintains nominal facilities in Madeira (Portugal) and Luxembourg, primarily to optimize tax obligations away from France; can it still be accurately described as a French company?