SpaceX’s broadband satellite internet, Starlink, is still in beta, but already has over 10,000 customers. The fledgling service is expected to be a cash cow for SpaceX, bringing in as much as $30 billion a year — more than 10 times the annual revenue of its existing rocket business. This revenue will be used to fuel Elon Musk’s ultimate goal of building a colony on Mars. Eventually, Starlink may even keep us connected on the Red Planet. Elon Musk’s SpaceX rolled out its Starlink early access program to the public six months ago, with the satellite internet service growing to more than 10,000 users in the first few months. To get real-life first impressions of the service, CNBC spoke to more than 50 people who have been using Starlink.
Those surveyed included households in Canada and 13 U.S. states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The majority of these Starlink users are in rural or remote areas, such as farmland or wilderness, with limited access to terrestrial broadband options – and a few with no access altogether. “I expect to keep the service long term,” a user in Montana told CNBC. “The price of the beta for the service is more reasonable than any other option we have, and those are worse in performance. I will keep Starlink as long as its the only broadband option available to me.” Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet. SpaceX launched the “Better than Nothing Beta” program for the public in October, and the majority of users CNBC surveyed received invitations to join between November and February.
The service is priced at $99 a month in the U.S. under the beta, with a $499 upfront cost for the equipment customers need to connect to the satellites – plus taxes, shipping, and any accessories needed to mount the antenna. CNBC’s surveyed users on total cost, the installation process, what they thought of SpaceX’s equipment, internet speed, reliability of the service, what their service alternatives were, their experience with customer service, any concerns they had, and their overall impressions.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his company are working hard to put more satellites into orbit capable of providing Internet access to people worldwide. So far, SpaceX has hundreds of Starlink satellites in orbit, with more set to launch during the year. Recently Musk made an exciting announcement that the Starlink Internet service could be fully mobile by the end of 2021.
Becoming fully mobile would mean the Internet service could follow customers to different addresses and be used in moving vehicles. Musk also said this week that Starlink could exit beta as early as the summer. So far, Starlink has more than 10,000 people signed up for its beta that launched last October.
During the beta, customers can’t move the hardware from address to address. The beta service only works at one home address. Details on the future of Starlink came when Musk replied to someone on Twitter who asked when they would be able to put the dish on an RV or tiny home or take it between addresses.
Musk replied Starlink would be fully mobile later this year, allowing it to be moved anywhere or used on an RV or truck in motion. He also noted that SpaceX needs a “few more satellite launches” to achieve complete coverage and the system also needs some software upgrades. SpaceX filed paperwork with the FCC to make Starlink mobile in March.
When SpaceX filed the request with the FCC, it said making its service mobile was in the public interest and would allow operators and passengers to access services to increase productivity. Musk also noted that service uptime for Starlink, along with bandwidth and latency, were improving rapidly. Previously, he promised that speed would double and would latency drop by the end of the year.
