from SpaceX The Starlink satellite internet network is expected to hit a new customer milestone this week, company President Gwynne Shotwell told Texas lawmakers on Tuesday.
“This week, by the way, we will surpass 4 million Starlink customers, which is pretty exciting,” he said while testifying before a meeting of the state House Appropriations Committee. (The milestone was confirmed by SpaceX on Thursday.)
The milestone would mean SpaceX has gained one million new customers since the end of May alone. This surpasses the company’s already impressive growth rate: Starlink began providing beta service for its product in October 2020; It reached 1 million subscribers in December 2022, 2 million subscribers in September 2023, and 3 million in May. The constellation now comprises nearly 6,000 satellites, with service available in nearly 100 countries for individual users as well as large enterprise customers such as major airlines and cruise lines.
Service is on the right track will generate $6.6 billion in revenue this year – an increase from about $1.4 billion just two years earlier, according to industry research and consulting firm Quilty Space.
Starlink is critical to SpaceX’s overall plan to commercialize and eventually explore space. While the company continued to raise money from investors, CEO Elon Musk has said for years that revenue from broadband Internet service would help fund further development of the massive reusable Starship rocket. In turn, bringing Starship online will help the company launch even more Starlink satellites at a higher cadence.
Starlink has become the undisputed giant of satellite Internet. Since it began service, it has taken more market share from traditional companies such as Viasat and SES, which operate large satellites in a higher geostationary orbit. There are currently a handful of other constellations in the works, notably Amazon’s Project Kuiper, but they have not yet begun commercial service.