Lincolnshire testing Starlink on its farms
Key Points
- Lincolnshire County Council will install Starlink on County Farms estate properties without fibre
- Farmers contract directly with Starlink for their own subscription package
- The pilot measures reliability, speeds, ease of installation and business impact
- A successful trial could extend satellite broadband to farms across the county
- The council is now collecting expressions of interest from estate tenants
Lincolnshire County Council will install Starlink satellite broadband on farms across its County Farms estate in a pilot to test whether the technology can fix rural “not spots”.
The council announced the pilot on 11 September after working with the Greater Lincolnshire Forum for Agriculture and Horticulture on solutions to poor rural connectivity.
The council will buy and install Starlink equipment on properties across its estate that have no fibre broadband connection. Farmers taking part will then contract directly with Starlink for whichever subscription package suits their business.
The council said it will use the pilot to evaluate:
- Satellite broadband reliability and resilience in rural areas
- Download and upload speeds achieved on participating farms
- Ease of installation and ongoing operation
- The impact improved connectivity could have on farm businesses
- The viability of satellite broadband as a wider solution for farms and rural properties across Lincolnshire
Evidence from other rural areas suggests satellite broadband can be deployed quickly and requires minimal infrastructure, the council added. If the Lincolnshire pilot succeeds, the council could extend the scheme to farms across the county where fibre is unlikely to arrive in the near future.
“A lack of reliable broadband is a real issue for many rural businesses, especially farms. Today, so much farming depends on being connected, from paperwork and accounting to livestock management, or simply everyday communication,” said Paul Lock, executive councillor for economy and investment at Lincolnshire County Council.
“In reality, it’s becoming harder and harder to run a business without good internet access. This pilot will help us see whether satellite broadband could offer a real practical solution for farms and other rural businesses that struggle with poor connectivity,” he added.
The council is now gathering expressions of interest from tenants on the County Farms estate to assess the performance and benefits of the technology.
Starlink, operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, delivers broadband from a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites and has become the main alternative to fibre for remote UK properties where fixed-line upgrades are not commercially viable.
