The satellite network choices are limited, and Elon Musk owns the cheapest and most reliable among them. 

As satellite technology advances, communication on the open sea remains one of the most pressing challenges for BC Ferries. The company revealed on March 7 that it is “assessing all available and affordable connectivity solutions to ensure that its crews have reliable communication, particularly in areas with poor or no cellular connectivity.” 

BC Ferries is considering Starlink satellite as one of its at-sea communication options. However, according to Sonia Lowe, senior communications officer, the effort includes exploring whether Canadian alternatives might meet the company’s operational needs. 

In an email to Capital Daily, Lowe said BC Ferries will soon be conducting a public procurement process to determine the right provider to deliver the reliable operational communications support that's critical for the safety of crew and passengers. 

“Whether at sea or in a terminal, we need systems that work in all conditions across the geography we operate,” she said. 

“Through this process, we'll be weighing reliability, safety benefits, cost, and long-term service.”

One of the best regarded and affordable options for BC Ferries is connecting to Musk’s Starlink, a network of satellites. Musk has been dominating the news cycle lately with his DOGE team’s aggressive budget cuts and layoffs at multiple American government agencies and his embattled clean-energy automaker Tesla becoming the object of derision. Even his aerospace firm SpaceX—Starlink’s parent company—made headlines for all the wrong reasons when one of its test rockets exploded over Florida last week. 

BC Ferries has long been challenged by the need for consistent and cost-effective internet service aboard its vessels. In 2021, the company removed onboard Wi-Fi from three of its main routes (Vancouver-Victoria, Vancouver-Nanaimo, and Vancouver-Sunshine Coast) after years of passenger complaints about inconsistent service. 

At the time of the disconnect, the company announced that “extensive research and analysis of various technology solutions has shown it is not possible to improve the Wi-Fi service on our ferries to the level expected by users, and we continually receive complaints about the quality and reliability of the service.”

The company has changed its tune. Despite a surge in user demand (last year, BC Ferries ferried 22.6M passengers), it says it would find it difficult to provide reliable service without incurring significant costs. 

‍Cost is the primary consideration 

There is no provincial grant budget line in the recently released Budget 2025 for this initiative. A monthly subscription to Starlink for Maritime for small crews is USD $1270K per ship. For large crews (including passengers), that cost goes up to US$6,390K per month per ship.

In response to Trump’s tariff war, Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently cancelled a $100M contract the province had with Starlink. It’s hard to imagine that its Canadian patrons would be pleased if BC Ferries didn’t follow suit with a rejection.

In November, when he addressed the Greater Victoria Board of Trade, CEO Nicolas Jimenez said the company recognized the importance of evaluating how well internet services could function for the crew, but that cost and logistics had been a challenge. 

Starlink is a prime contender in connectivity

As of Feb. 27, there were 7,086 Starlink satellites in orbit around the Earth. Starlink's current coverage spans North America’s coastal waters, along with parts of South America, the Mediterranean, Western Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. 

Starlink’s download speeds of up to 300 Mbps significantly amplify the communication capabilities of crews aboard maritime vessels. The service’s low latency (the lag time between satellite input and response), typically around 20 milliseconds (the Starlink website says 99ms for Maritime), is another important feature that makes Starlink such a competitive option for BC Ferries crew to engage in real-time communication on the water.

It has already gained significant buy-in from the cruise industry. 

As of 2024, Starlink’s service was well established among major players like Royal Caribbean and Carnival, who have outfitted their entire fleets with its satellite internet service. Ships under Carnival’s brands, including Princess Cruises and those operated by Norwegian Cruise Line that frequently dock in Victoria en route to Alaska and are also all Starlink-connected.

There are viable alternatives to Starlink

While Starlink is currently leading the charge in satellite-based internet for maritime operations, Telesat is one notable Canadian contender operating in the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network market. LEO satellites complete a full orbit around the Earth in roughly 128 minutes.

Ottawa-based Telesat partnered in 2019 with Intellian (a leader in stabilized satellite antenna systems) to successfully conduct live testing with the U.S. navy. It currently has a teleport in Victoria (links ground communications to satellites), and its 198 LEO satellites offer coverage along the entire BC coast. 

However, its proposal to expand to commercial service in 2023 has been delayed. And it too has ties to Musk.

That year, the company signed agreements with SpaceX for 14 launches starting in 2026. Once fully operational, Telesat Lightspeed hopes to provide high-speed internet services to remote regions, including areas across the Georgia Strait serviced by BC Ferries.

Telesat’s federal government-backed $2.14B loan aimed to accelerate the rollout of its satellite “constellation,” to connect all Canadians to high-speed internet by 2030.

According to UVic computer science doctoral student Jinway Zhao, Telesat’s Lightspeed network holds potential for BC Ferries but is still a few years away from providing full commercial service. 

Zhao and his colleagues published a paper in 2023 that explains Starlink’s advantageous, globally timed synchronous satellite-to-ground communication links with a lag interval of 15 seconds at fixed 12-27-42-57 seconds of every minute. 

Telesat, he explained in an email to Capital Daily, also faces competition from Eutelsat’s OneWeb, a French-owned provider with an existing LEO satellite constellation that Zhao says is far more competitive. OneWeb’s services are currently available to corporate and government clients, and its network delivers service on par with cellular or Long Term Evolution (LTE) which refers to fourth-generation or 4G wireless communication connection standards.

OneWeb Maritime could support various usage scenarios for BC Ferries, however, Zhao warned that the cost of both the hardware and the monthly subscription for its services is far higher than Starlink’s. With ferry rates steadily rising over the years and the need for fleet replacements on the horizon, the higher cost could present a challenge for BC Ferries, which is on the hook alone for 100% of the proposed connectivity infrastructure costs. 

Jimenez emphasized that the public procurement process, which Lowe confirmed will soon be initiated, will be essential in identifying the right provider to deliver the necessary operational communications. The procurement process will be overseen by the Ministry of Citizen Services, whose mandate bailiwick includes oversight on the procurement of internet access technology in BC.