Starlink has passed the milestone of one million terminals, less than two years after the launch of pre-orders for its broadband service, which took place in February 2021.
This news comes just after the launch of 52 new satellites on Saturday. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, announced on this occasion that the company had manufactured one million Starlink terminals.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket last Saturday carrying 52 additional Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. There are now over 3,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
Price increase in the United States, price decrease in France
When Starlink launched in the United States, the service cost $99 per month. The installation kit including a terminal with a satellite dish and a Wi-Fi router cost 499 dollars.
Today, prices have increased across the Atlantic, with a subscription starting at $110 per month and hardware at $599.
Conversely, in France, the subscription now costs only 50 euros per month, and the equipment necessary for the installation of the service 480 euros.
Starlink worldwide
Earlier this month, Elon Musk indicated that Starlink was now available on all seven continents after testing its service in Antarctica.
Available in Malta since SeptemberStarlink is now technically available in 40 countries.
The exact number of subscribers to Elon Musk’s satellite internet service is currently unknown, as the company has not released new figures. However, if we rely on documents filed last May with the US telecoms policeman, the FCC, it had 400,000 subscribers worldwide, compared to only 250,000 a few months earlier.
Starlink conquering new markets
Starlink is not only aimed at the general public: the service has also made inroads into the business world with several major contracts.
Notably, cruise line Royal Caribbean plans to install Starlink across its entire fleet by the end of Q1 2023. Starlink has also entered into partnerships with Hawaiian Airlines and Microsoft’s Azure Orbital Cloud Access service.
The company has also shipped thousands of devices to Ukraine since activating its service in February, to keep the country’s internet running amid Russia’s physical and cyber attacks on its infrastructure.
Slow speeds
But Starlink’s download and upload speeds have slowed, in part because of the service’s popularity. The FCC recently canceled a nearly $1 billion grant to SpaceX for its regional broadband network repair program. She cited slow download speeds over the past few months.
According to a report from Ookla last week, Starlink speeds slowed globally in the second quarter of 2022. In the US, Starlink’s median download speed hit just over 62 Mbps in the second quarter. quarter, compared to just under 90 Mb/s a year ago.
Source: ZDNet.com