The project to create an analogue of Starlink in Russia could cost 445 billion rubles

In the period 2025-2030, Russia will create a constellation of low-orbit satellites for high-speed Internet access around the world; 116 billion rubles will be allocated from the budget for this. The 1440th office is responsible for the project. By 2030, it is planned to launch 383 spacecraft into orbit, 91 of which will replace the failed ones. This will require 24 rocket launches, the document says.

Companies will allocate another 37.5 billion rubles in the form of preferential loans. About 61 billion rubles and 17 billion rubles will be spent on rockets to launch satellites into orbit and on the launch itself, respectively. More than 329 billion rubles will be raised from extra-budgetary sources. This gives the estimated cost of the entire project: 445 billion rubles.

Bureau 1440 reported that the project is developing strictly according to the planned schedule and that key technologies are already ready for expansion. The Ministry of Digital Development says that the document is currently under interdepartmental approval; it is too early to talk about final figures.

In his address to the Federal Assembly in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to allocate 116 billion rubles for the development of the satellite constellation in the next decade. He said that in this way it will be possible to solve the problem of access to high-speed Internet in almost the entire country. Thus, the share of households with access to high-speed broadband Internet will increase to 97% in 2030 and 99% in 2036.

At the end of 2023, it became known that the Russian space company Bureau 1440 (part of X Holding) plans to launch an analogue of Starlink in Russia in 2027. To start, the company will need 250 satellites.