Comcast teams with Starlink to connect business customers

Comcast's business unit is expanding broadband access to its customers – and taking a more agnostic approach to it – after forging a connectivity deal with Starlink, Elon Musk's low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband service.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the "strategic agreement" announced Friday calls for Starlink to provide connections to Comcast Business' enterprise customers, particularly in regions that are underserved by wireline networks.

Comcast Business said the deal comes together as enterprises face the challenge of keeping disparate locations online in relatively rural areas that have access to a dearth of connectivity options.

According to Starlink, users typically see download speeds in the range of 25 Mbit/s to 220 Mbit/s, with the "majority" getting speeds of over 100 Mbit/s. Upstream speeds are typically in the range of 5 Mbit/s to 20 Mbit/s along with latencies of 25 milliseconds to 60 milliseconds on land, and 100 milliseconds or more in some remote areas.

"As the first major network provider to collaborate with Starlink, we're excited to uniquely enhance our extensive managed connectivity portfolio with advanced satellite capabilities to better serve our enterprise customers," Jon Friedman, SVP of product strategy and operations at Comcast Business, said in a statement. "Starlink's LEO satellite technology complements our existing network infrastructure, extends our reach and further enhances Comcast Business' ability to deliver reliable connectivity solutions to enterprises with a human touch."

As part of its national, managed connectivity coverage, Comcast Business also supplies access to cellular networks for both "active and passive backup."