With multiple launches every month, the pace at which SpaceX has been growing is substantial. Even just two days back on Feb 4 the company had the 18th Starlink launch. And it was a massive success. At the same time, the company is also preparing for another launch on 11th February. With the growing number of satellites, the no of users of SpaceX’s satellite internet has also increased. The company recently reported that they have over 10,000 active users using SpaceX’s Starlink internet right now.
Starlink is the future!
At this point, I am just hoping two things. First is the arrival of the Starlink internet connection to India and secondly, I hope it is cheap. This is because the conversion rate isn’t particularly great if you compare to the local ISP costs here. As of now if you live in areas where the Starlink service is available, it will cost you a $499 one-time fee and a $99 monthly cost. This connection is supposed to give a speed of 100 Mbps but users are reporting speeds more than that due to the low user base.
The fact that you can be anywhere on the planet and still have access to the internet is the key factor here. Just a few years back when we use to hear about satellite internet, it sounded big and something the military will use. But now that has changed and the same tech is being brought for the masses. Users in the US have shown huge interest in the company’s satellite internet connection. And over 700,000 potential customers signed up on their website within 2 months of the announcement of the service.
Future goals of the company
Initially, the FCC gave SpaceX permission to launch about 11k satellites to the lower Earth orbit. But later it was increased to around 42k. Of that number around 1k satellites have already been launched and about 4,425 of them will be deployed in the lower earth orbit by 2024. The company also plans to increase the internet speeds of the connections to 1 Gbps initially and eventually 10 Gbps as it said it a presentation a few weeks back.
SpaceX has also been actively working towards bringing internet connection to rural areas. And has also been awarded $900 million in subsidies by the FCC in doing so. It has also been asking for the government to name Starlink as an official “Eligible Telecommunications Carrier”. This will help them speed up the process of providing internet connections to more areas.
What are your thoughts on SpaceX’s Starlink internet? And what do you think should be its price if the company wants to do good business in India? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative do like and share it with your friends.
Also Read: SpaceX’s latest Starlink launch has been a booming success
