Elon Musk's Starlink internet satellite service has been approved in the UK, and people are already receiving their beta kits

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

• Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service has been approved by UK regulator Ofcom, Bloomberg reported Saturday.
• Starlink, from Musk's aerospace company SpaceX, will now compete with the likes of BT Group and UK-based satellite service OneWeb to provide internet to people across the UK.
• People in the UK have already started receiving the Starlink kit.
• One user told Insider he received his Starlink equipment on New Years Eve, and that his download speed jumped from 0.5 megabits per second (Mbps) to 85 Mbps.

 The UK has given the green light to SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, and users in the country have already begun receiving their kit for the company's public beta.

Ofcom granted Elon Musk's aerospace company authorization for Starlink in November, a spokesman for the regulator told Insider Monday. The company began running a Starlink beta in the US in late 2020.

Ofcom granted Elon Musk's aerospace company authorization for Starlink in November, a spokesman for the regulator told Insider Monday. The company began running a Starlink beta in the US in late 2020.

People in the UK who signed up for SpaceX's "Better Than Nothing Beta" test have started receiving the Starlink kit, which costs £439 ($591) up front, plus £84 ($120) for the monthly subscription.

Philip Hall, based in rural Devon, south-west England, confirmed to Insider on Friday that he received the Wifi router and terminal to connect to the satellites on New Year's Eve.

Beforehand, Hall was getting download speeds of only 0.5 megabits per second (Mbps) with BT internet, he said. Now with Starlink, he's averaging 85 Mbps. "Within the hour we ran a Zoom quiz with grandchildren - it was wonderful," he said.