Elon Musk’s satellite-powered internet network Starlink experienced a significant global outage early Friday morning, disrupting service for thousands of users worldwide.

The outage began around 6am AEST, knocking offline roughly 200,000 Australian Starlink subscribers, many of whom rely on the service in regional and remote areas where traditional internet options are limited.

The company confirmed the disruption on its official X account shortly after, stating: “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution. We appreciate your patience.”

After around two and a half hours, the service was mostly restored, with Starlink vice-president of engineering Michael Nicholls explaining the cause: “The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network.”

New portable Starlink Dish

Users across Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania reported restoration by mid-morning, although some regions like Victoria’s Gippsland and parts of Queensland’s Whitsundays continued to experience interruptions.

The outage marks one of Starlink’s longest and most widespread service interruptions since launching its satellite constellation in 2019.

With more than 7,800 satellites currently orbiting Earth, Starlink serves over 6 million users globally, including around 200,000 in Australia.

Internet analysts speculate the incident may have stemmed from a faulty software update or a similar internal glitch, while experts emphasise the growing challenge of maintaining a highly complex global satellite network.

As Starlink continues expanding its services – including direct-to-cell phone messaging in partnership with T-Mobile – the company faces increasing pressure to ensure reliability for remote Australian communities and beyond.

Musk apologised publicly, stating SpaceX “will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

This week, SpaceX’s Starlink Mini dish became truly portable, with the $179 PeakDo LinkPower 1 battery pack delivering over 4.5 hours of untethered satellite internet access.