Key facts
- Kirkby told the FT BT would launch satellite broadband with Starlink in the coming months.
- Kirkby said BT would launch proactively only when the noise over Musk and Starlink from the Ukraine matter had died down.
- Neither Musk nor the US government has acknowledged responsibility for curtailing Starlink or Starshield in Ukraine, per the report.
- Neither BT nor Starlink responded to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.
BT will not launch its partnership with Elon Musk's Starlink until the scrutiny over recent disruptions to the satellite communications system in Ukraine subsides, CEO Allison Kirkby said in a Financial Times interview published on November 10, 2026, according to a Reuters account of the interview.
Starlink's role in the Ukraine war came under scrutiny in October 2026 after speed restrictions hindered efforts to intercept Russian drones and forced some operations to be canceled, the report said. Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations, and restricting the service hampered its attack and air defense drone missions against Russia.
US President Donald Trump said in October 2026 that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's Starlink access, according to the report. Musk had accused the Ukrainian military of violating the company's terms. Neither Musk nor the US government has acknowledged responsibility for curtailing Starlink or Starshield in Ukraine, and both have said publicly such decisions could only have been taken by the other.
Kirkby said the service was "ready to launch" but that BT was "cautious on how Starlink might be viewed at the moment considering what happened in Ukraine," according to the FT interview. "We will only launch it proactively when we feel the noise has died down a little bit on Elon Musk and Starlink as a result of the Ukraine thing," Kirkby told the FT.
BT announced its partnership with Musk's company in 2025, with services initially slated to be available by the end of 2026. Kirkby added that BT would launch satellite broadband with Starlink "in the coming months," the FT reported. Neither BT nor Starlink responded to requests for comment outside regular business hours.