Experts have estimated that Elon Musk-owned satellite internet constellation, Starlink, is well-positioned to capture a huge chunk of the global market for consumer satellite services.
They disclosed that the business has grown so quickly, which has seen it launch aggressively in different regions of the world, providing global, high-speed Internet coverage, that has seen it grow rapidly in influence.
Senior consultant at Euroconsult, Brent Prokosh, said the rapid growth of Starlink is laudable, adding that the satellite internet constellation importance to SpaceX is imperative, and it could represent upwards of 40% of SpaceX’s overall business.
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In his words,
“This growth is uncharacteristic in the sense of its magnitude. Whereas prior satellite service providers have ramped up to anywhere at most between 500,000 to a little bit over a million subscribers. And this has taken, you know, a ten-year period, Starlink’s race to 2 million subscribers has taken only the better part of two years.
“Starlink’s importance to SpaceX overall as a company is imperative. Euroconsult estimates that, optimistically, by the end of 2023, this business of Starlink could represent upwards of 40% of SpaceX’s overall business. This total would be somewhere in excess of $3 billion generated from Starlink”.
Starlink has also been lauded for its significant benefit to Ukraine and how it is currently used in the country, providing a pathway for the military, and for civilians to stay connected to the outside world.
With the first launch of Starlink in 2019, the satellite internet constellation adoption rate has skyrocketed since then. The company said it has more than 2 million active customers and is available on all seven continents and in over 60 countries.
In the U.S., Starlink is currently available in 32 States including Alaska, New York, California, Hawaii, Texas, and several others which have a max download speed of 350 Mbps.
The satellite internet with its high-speed Internet coverage is revolutionizing internet access for rural and underserved areas.
With Starlink’s remarkable progress since its launch, CEO Elon Musk early this month announced that the space-based internet service has achieved break-even cash flow.
Announcing this, he wrote on X,
“Excited to announce that @SpaceX @Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow! Excellent work by a great team. Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year”.
The company’s impressive cash flow might see it soon become a publicly listed company, after Musk in 2021, hinted that Starlink would become a publicly listed company once the cash flow can be predicted reasonably well.
Starlink was valued at $126.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $144.5 billion by 2026.
Currently, there is a growing acceptance of the Satellite-Services Market with service types (Consumer Services, Fixed Satellite, Mobile Satellite, and Earth Observation) which has substantially led to the increasing use of Satellite services.
These satellite service providers offer satellite capacity to end-users, and Starlink is poised to dominate the market with its remarkable offerings.