Elon Musk's Message to Rival ISPs – More Pain on the Way
“It’s not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world’s Internet,” Musk said on an Aug. 4 earnings call with Wall Street analysts
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LEO: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had a simple message for his broadband rivals: More pain is on the way. “It’s not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world’s Internet,” Musk said on an Aug. 4 earnings call with Wall Street analysts. Musk’s comments came a day after Hughes Satellite Systems Corp. filed for bankruptcy, citing withering competition from Starlink. Musk’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite Internet access service added 1.7 million subscribers globally in the second quarter, up from 1.3 million in the prior quarter, to end with 12 million. Musk did not break out U.S. net adds, but it’s likely the U.S. customer count rose by at least 10%. The massive Starship rocket – with its payload of V3 satellites far more powerful than the current generation – is the source of SpaceX’s growth and strength in the broadband arena. “We expect the cadence of flights to be increasing rapidly, and probably a year from now, we will be doing at least one flight a day, possibly more,” Musk said. The impact of the V3 satellites will take some time. “We’d need some critical mass of V3 satellites, probably at least on the order of about 1,000. Probably that’s approximately second quarter next year
would be, I think, where we’d get to that point.” Starship can deliver about 60 V3s per mission. (More after paywall)
