Starlink to Boost UK Broadband Capacity and Coverage via New Earth Stations
SpaceX has revealed that they’re seeking approval from Ofcom to deploy two more gateway earth stations in Harlow (Essex) and Mulberry Wharf (London), which would connect Starlink’s mega constellation of ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to the internet (or to a private network) – improving the network’s data capacity and coverage.
Starlink currently has c.9,950 satellites in orbit – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-550km. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £35 a month for the ‘Residential 100Mbps’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which also promises uploads of c.15-35Mbps and low latency connectivity. Faster packages exist at greater cost, while more restrictive (data capped) options also exist for roaming users (e.g. £50 per month for 100 GigaBytes of data).
However, in order to operate this network in the UK, Starlink currently holds several NGSO (Non-Geostationary Earth Station) gateway licences, which help to connect their NGSO system to the internet via large dishes on the ground. The company has now applied for two more such licences for its system in Mulberry Wharf, London and Harlow, Essex, using Ka band frequencies between 27.5-27.9405GHz, 28.4545-28.9485GHz, and 29.5-30GHz.
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“Starlink has stated that these new gateways are needed to expand network coverage, improve quality of consumer experience, and enable greater network resilience of its satellite broadband services in the UK,” said Ofcom.
Ofcom’s Proposal
Our preliminary view is that we will grant these NGSO gateway licences to Starlink. We have considered the technical coexistence and competition impacts of these gateways on existing and future NGSO systems, as well as the impact on UK consumers and citizens.
These gateways will be similar in design to existing Starlink gateways at Morn Hill, Woodwalton and Fawley. In 2024, we concluded that Starlink’s gateways did not raise coexistence or competition concerns, including that there were alternative gateway sites in the UK available to satellite operators. The proposed two Starlink gateways would be, however, the first NGSO gateways to be located in an urban area. In this consultation, we are therefore particularly interested in stakeholder evidence related to whether there is potential for competition concerns arising from the location of these gateways.
We invite comments on Starlink’s NGSO gateway licences application (using Ka band frequencies between 27.5-27.9405 GHz, 28.4545-28.9485 GHz, and 29.5-30 GHz) and our preliminary views, as set out in this consultation, by 17 April 2026. Details of Starlink’s NGSO licence application can be found under the “Applications received” section of our NGSO licensing webpage.
We will consider any responses to this consultation before reaching a final decision on whether to grant Starlink these two NGSO gateway licences.
The overview section in this document is a simplified high-level summary only. Our decision and reasoning are set out in the full document.
Take note that Starlink currently utilizes (and is licensed for) six gateway sites in the British Isles, located at Morn Hill, Goonhilly, Chalfont, Fawley, Woodwalton, and Wherstead. These sites currently each make use of Ka-band parabolic antennas and serve customers in the UK and the broader region.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Good. It’s really annoying when you forget you are located in London as that’s the only place I seem to conenct to. I hope they can change that.
They don’t have any site in London, unless you consider Chalfont to be London… but that’s outside the M25.
Users also don’t “connect” to these sites – satellites do – and from there fibre takes traffic to the main traffic hubs. London is the main one in the UK, so it’s normal for base stations in the south of England and even Wales to end up there. Starlink also probably geolocated their IPs to be in “London”, but that doesn’t mean you’re using a London base station.
Well, Everytime I check my IP or go onto Google it always puts me in London.
Some sites that rely on location do that too – so I don’t know what else to say
Hope the cheaper plans of £55 £35 will be become available in South East soon then!
If the satellite isn’t in range of a ground station or that one is overloaded then it will use laser link to transfer the data via another starlink satellite. Having more ground stations reduces that meed for inter-satellite transfer.
The attrition rate of Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites in Low earth orbit has to be seen to be believed. They seem to be dropping out of orbit like swatted flies. Sustainable this network of Thousands of Low earth orbit Satellites is not. We aught to be Turbocharging UK FTTP installations, and making FTTP a Universal service obligation as soon as possible. Then we can give, Mr Musk and his Satellite constellation vanity project, the heave-ho permanently…
Its moved well beyond being a vanity project, or a maybe project.
It’s a well heeled project generating a lot of income for spaceX.
You’ll not be seeing the end of Starlink for many years, and then it will only because they are making more money from something else.
Business/Military/Consumer for data, and then phone on top, with potential for phone data.
Was always designed this way so etop with the eds.
Whatever.
10,000 satellites – if they were in use for 5 years, you’d expect 2,000 a year to be de-orbitted – 5 a day, every day. They are not ‘dropping out of orbit like swatted flies’, that’s just a silly statement, but I suspect you already knew that.
Starlink will be far more than alternative internet connections in remote locations, it will be GPS, mobile coverage and on. But I suspect you already knew that too.
MDS is so utterly tiresome. What have you contributed in this space? Perhaps you’d like to send some money to the DSIT to help fund a fibre rollout, or do you think everybody else should pay instead?
Essential for backhaul bandwidth to enable the customers bandwidth expectations so the business can scale to the demand.
Shame that it took more than three years to control customer registration in Ukraine to keep RF war criminals from using satellite communication to cause such terrible harm.
The assumption that technology and innovation are used for good very much depends on who gets it. Never the RF terrorist state…