Musk Says Future Starlink Could Outcompete Undersea Cables as Russia Orders Faster Rollout of Its Rival Network

Since the first reports of Starlink ground stations being torched in Europe this fall, the network has become a target and a talking point at the same time. This week brought two more developments: Musk's pitch for Starlink as a substitute for undersea cables, and a Russian Security Council order to build a domestic rival faster.

Musk's claim

On Friday, Nov. 6, Musk spoke with Ron Baron of Baron Capital about Starlink bandwidth, Starship launches and the planned Terafab chip plant. He said Starlink version 4 "will have 10x the capability of V3 (which itself is 10x better than V2), especially with the long-distance laser links."

He said the next-generation laser links will run at 10 terabits per second, and that SpaceX will "put 10 of them on." Musk then posted on X: "~100 lasers per satellite, each operating above 10 Tb/s, with over 100k satellites should be able to outcompete undersea cables."

His reasoning: "Speed of light in space is ~40% faster than cable and the path is direct, instead of following the outline of land masses."

These are Musk's projections, not deployed capability. Starlink has more than 10,000 active satellites today. Musk has previously announced plans for a 42,000-satellite constellation, well short of the 100,000 he cited Friday. No independent engineering assessment of the V4 figures has been published.

The cable threat behind the pitch

Undersea cables carry the bulk of international internet traffic, and they are exposed. In 2024, Baltic cables between Finland and Germany were severed, causing weeks of disruption.

The Financial Times reported Friday, citing maritime intelligence firm Windward, that several Iran-linked vessels slowed or lingered over cable routes in the Gulf of Oman. That is one outlet's account of vessel tracking data. No attack on those cables has been reported.

Starlink under attack on the ground

Starlink's own infrastructure has been hit. On Sept. 23, a Starlink ground station in Poland caught fire. Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the fire was set deliberately to cut internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian military.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister responsible for intelligence services, said there was no doubt Russian intelligence was involved. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it "another act of hybrid warfare." Der Spiegel has reported that the main suspects may be members of a Turkish criminal organization acting on Russian orders. That detail rests on Der Spiegel's reporting and has not been confirmed by Polish officials in the accounts available.

In Bulgaria, an arson attack hit 11 of 17 antennas used to communicate with the Starlink network near Sofia, investigators said. The incident was reported Oct. 13. Suspects have been identified and the government calls it deliberate sabotage, but Bulgarian authorities have not accused any country.

In Lithuania, someone tried on the night of Oct. 18 to set fire to a company building holding Starlink equipment. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said intelligence services had warned the company beforehand, and added security measures stopped the attack. Fuel canisters were found at the scene. The facility serves nine Starlink antennas used by Ukraine, he said. Lithuanian law enforcement linked the attempt to Russian activity aimed at disrupting Starlink in Ukraine.

Moscow's response

Russia's Security Council said Friday that Russia must urgently expand its homegrown Starlink equivalent. Its Scientific and Expert Council presidium met on information security and internet access, and the Council said Western satellite services, "first and foremost" Starlink and OneWeb, carry risks of being used "to destabilise the socio-political situation" in sovereign states. It did not name which countries.

"To boost the development of the (Rassvet) system, it is necessary to rapidly scale up the mass production of communications satellites and terminal equipment," the Council said, according to state media. Relevant agencies were told to draw up proposals for full-scale deployment and sustainable operation.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Council's deputy chairman and a former president, separately criticized Musk for letting the Ukrainian military use his satellites.

The gap is large. Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev told Vladimir Putin last month that Russia has launched just over 30 Rassvet satellites. Putin, for his part, called Musk a genius and acknowledged Russia is only beginning its rollout. Russia's stated plan is 350 satellites in the first phase and 900 long term, per the former Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov's June 2025 comments.

Ukraine said Friday that Russia is already using Rassvet for military communications over Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Orbit is getting crowded

The Security Council statement came amid reports that in October the Russian military satellite Kosmos-2612 passed dangerously close to the X36 satellite of Finnish company ICEYE, whose imagery and intelligence data Ukraine uses.

The Security Council gave no deadline for its proposals, and no state agency has publicly released a Rassvet production target beyond the existing 350 and 900 figures. SpaceX has not published a launch schedule for V4 satellites or the 10 Tb/s laser links Musk described.