SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet network is expected to hit a new customer milestone this week, company President Gwynne Shotwell told Texas lawmakers Tuesday.
“It’s very exciting that we’re going to have over 4 million Starlink customers this week,” she said while testifying before a meeting of the state House Appropriations Committee. (This milestone was confirmed by SpaceX on Thursday.)
This milestone means SpaceX has added 1 million new customers since the end of May alone. This surpasses the company’s already impressive growth rate. Starlink began offering a beta version of its product in October 2020. We reached 1 million subscribers in December 2022, 2 million subscribers in September 2023, and 3 million subscribers in May. The constellation currently consists of nearly 6,000 satellites, serving individual users in nearly 100 countries as well as large corporate customers such as major airlines and cruise lines.
The service is expected to generate $6.6 billion in revenue this year, according to industry research and consulting firm Quilty Space. This is up from about $1.4 billion just two years ago.
Starlink is central to SpaceX’s overall plan to commercialize and ultimately explore space. While the company continues to raise money from investors, CEO Elon Musk has said for years that revenue from broadband internet services will help fund further development of Starship, a large-scale reusable rocket. As a result, bringing Starship online will help the company launch more Starlink satellites at greater speeds.
Starlink has become the undisputed giant of satellite internet. Since entering service, it has gained market share from incumbents such as Viasat and SES, which operate large satellites in higher geostationary orbits. There are other constellations currently in the works, most notably Amazon’s Project Kuiper, but they have not yet launched commercial services.
