Nikoloski on the Third Operator With "Starlink": "Much, Much Cheaper" Than the Existing Ones - No Prices or Launch Date Yet

Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski announced on his Facebook page that Macedonia will be among the first countries to use "Starlink" technology. The third mobile operator, he says, will use the "Starlink" network and will therefore be "much more competitive".

The loudest sentence is the one about prices. "Outside Ukraine, Macedonia and Montenegro will be the first countries where 'Starlink' will be used directly. From the information I have - they will be much, much cheaper than the two existing operators," Nikoloski wrote.

"From the information I have" is a phrase worth reading twice. There are no tariff plans or prices yet. There is not even a date for when the satellite service will start working in Macedonia. The company 4iG, which is behind the third operator, announced on September 2 that it had agreed a partnership with SpaceX for satellite mobile services in several European markets, and Macedonia is in the plans for the next generation, "Starlink Mobile V2", together with Montenegro, Hungary and Albania. The technology is meant to allow connections directly from a mobile phone and to fill in for the ground network where the signal is weak or drops out.

The concrete deadline that does exist is a different one. Under the concession agreement, the new operator must cover at least one city by March and operate nationwide by the end of the year. The operator chose Skopje. That is a deadline for the ground network - not a confirmed date for "Starlink" in a Macedonian user's pocket.

A third operator in a two-player market is good news in itself, and lower phone bills are something nobody will turn down. But prices are announced by the operator when it publishes them, not by a minister on Facebook. Will "much, much cheaper" survive until the first bill?