{"id":48007,"date":"2026-09-11T10:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T09:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=48007"},"modified":"2026-09-11T10:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T09:52:21","slug":"lincolnshire-county-council-trials-starlink-broadband-for-rural-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/09\/lincolnshire-county-council-trials-starlink-broadband-for-rural-farms.html","title":{"rendered":"Lincolnshire County Council trials Starlink broadband for rural farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lincolnshire County Council<\/a> (LCC) in England has launched a new pilot project that aims to address rural broadband “not spots<\/em>” across the agricultural sector by helping farms deploy Starlink<\/a>’s satellite<\/a> based broadband service. If found to be successful, the initiative could be rolled out “across the county<\/em>” to farms where fibre-based solutions are unlikely to be delivered in the near future.<\/p>\n

Starlink<\/a> currently has around 11,140 satellites<\/strong><\/a> in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) \u2013 mostly at altitudes of between c.340-550km. Residential users in the UK usually pay from \u00a340 a month for the 100Mbps <\/strong>unlimited data plan, which also promises uploads of c.15-35Mbps and low latency connectivity (c.20ms). Faster packages exist at greater cost, while more restrictive (data capped) options are available for roaming (e.g. \u00a355pm for 100GB of data).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> By mid-2026 Starlink<\/a>\u2019s global network had 13 million consumer broadband customers (up from 6m in July 2025) and 22 million mobile (DTC) customers. The service had 110,000 customers in the UK as of July 2025 (up from 87,000 in 2024) \u2013 mostly in rural areas.<\/div>\n

At this point a question arises, if farmers can already purchase Starlink directly then what does LCC’s pilot bring to the table? In short, the pilot will see the council fund the purchase and help to install Starlink facilities on properties without fibre broadband across the council\u2019s County Farms<\/strong> estate. Farmers would then contract directly with Starlink for a subscription package and pay for that part themselves.<\/p>\n

The above is interesting because Starlink’s residential package currently bundles the hardware for free (although you do have to return the kit if you cancel), although a professional installation would set you back \u00a375 but is not strictly necessary. But farms can be a mix of residential and business, so it’s possible the council may be looking more at Starlink’s business plans, which start at at \u00a330\/m with a hardware cost of \u00a3299.<\/p>\n

As part of the pilot, the county council will look to evaluate:<\/p>\n