Policyband

Musk Invades the Cable Homeland as Starlink’s Urban Growth Rate Rockets Higher

According to Ookla, since October 2025 about 90% of new Starlink users switched from cable, DSL, or fixed wireless access connections

Ted Hearn

Nov 12, 2026 — 10 min read

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LEO: Starlink’s growth is increasingly coming from urban America, signaling a growing competitive threat to cable, fixed wireless, and legacy DSL providers that have traditionally dominated those markets. The satellite broadband service’s urban user base grew at more than twice the rate of its rural users starting in the first half of 2025 and extending through the first half of 2026, according to a Nov. 11 report by Ookla Editorial Director Sue Marek. Urban users expanded faster than rural users in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.

The trend suggests Starlink is evolving beyond its original role as a broadband option for underserved rural communities and increasingly competing in markets long served by incumbent cable ISPs like Charter and Comcast, though neither considers Starlink a serious threat for now. Nevertheless, Starlink appears to be winning customers primarily from non-fiber services, Marek said.

“The subscriber shift from rural to urban is most evident in the Midwest and Northeast. The number of urban Starlink users more than doubled in New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Michigan, and in six states — Florida, Nevada, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Hawaii, and New Jersey — more Starlink users now test from urban locations than rural locations,” Marek said. (More after paywall)