Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet service should be available worldwide in August, and he hopes to have half a million users within a year.
Speaking Tuesday via videoconference for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla Inc.
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said about 1,800 Starlink satellites have already been launched, and the internet service currently has nearly 70,000 users in 12 countries.
“We’re, I think, on our way to having a few hundred thousand users, possibly over 500,000 users within 12 months,” Musk said. It’s unclear how realistic that number is, as Musk is notorious for failing to meet his own overly optimistic forecasts.
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Starlink is intended to beam high-speed internet service to hard-to-reach areas, and comes at a relatively steep price: $99 a month, plus a $499 receiver. Musk said SpaceX has deals in place with two “major country” telecommunications companies, but did not name them.
While Starlink is currently a money-loser, Musk has hopes it can eventually bring in $30 billion a year, and fund future Mars missions. But it will require a significant investment until then. “Before we go to positive cash flow, it’ll be at least $5 billion, and maybe as much as $10 [billion]. So it’s quite a lot,” he said Tuesday.
The Starlink project eventually envisions about 12,000 small satellites orbiting Earth, providing high-speed internet coverage around the globe by 2026.
