Unfortunately, Starlink is currently not available in India. In this article, I will detail why Starlink isn’t live in India yet, the roadblocks it faced so far, when it’s likely launching, and at what cost.

Detailing Starlink’s (Troubled) History in India

To say that Starlink faced some roadblocks in India is probably quite the understatement. To understand why, let’s rewind the tape back to March 2021.

After Starlink had just launched in the United States five months prior, its executives quickly began to roll out the service to other lucrative markets.

India was quickly identified as being one of those, largely due to the country’s population size, lack of satellite-based internet options, and willingness to adopt new technologies.

Additionally, improving internet connectivity can be particularly beneficial to developing nations like India. A World Bank report previously discovered that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration can lead to GDP increases of up to 1.38 percent.

When Starlink opened itself up for pre-orders, it targeted customers across most major cities (e.g., Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru) as well as in remote areas (which Starlink primarily targets anyways).

“Availability is limited. Orders will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis,” Starlink said on its website at the time.

Starlink disclosed that it targeted a launch sometime in 2022, pending regulatory approval by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Unfortunately, it did not take much time for issues to arise. A month after pre-orders went live, in April 2021, an industry association called Broadband India Forum, which represents the likes of Amazon, Google, Hughes Communications, or Microsoft, among many others, sent a letter to various government bodies, urging them halt sales.

Hughes and Amazon, in particular, had a vested interest in stopping Starlink. Dubbed Project Kuiper, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant was (and still is) working on a similar satellite constellation that aims to provide global internet coverage.

Starlink, to fend off the rising competition and advance its regulatory approval, hired seasoned executive Sanjay Bhargava in October. Musk personally knew Bhargava from his days at PayPal where the latter was a founding member.

His first act of business was to officially register Starlink as an stand-alone business in India. Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited, as it would be called, would allow the firm to apply for the various required licenses.

“Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100% owned subsidiary in India,” Bhargava wrote on LinkedIn. His post was accompanied with a set of slides, which detailed Starlink’s plans in the country.

For example, in its initial phase, Starlink aimed to give 100 devices for free to schools in Delhi and surrounding rural locations.

More importantly, the document stated that Starlink planned to file its commercial applications by January 31^st, 2022. Rollout would begin in April while Starlink projected to sell over 200,000 terminals until December.

In upcoming interviews, Bhargava also stated Starlink and SpaceX aimed to work together with Indian telecom providers, such as Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, or BharatNet, to help them deploy their own satellite constellations.

Regrettably, Bhargava’s optimism wouldn’t last for much longer, though. On November 27^th, 2021, just around three weeks after Starlink incorporated its standalone business, the Indian government advised people against subscribing to Starlink.

The corresponding statement urged Starlink to comply with local regulations and abstain from “booking/rendering the satellite internet services in India with immediate effect.” Within a matter of days, Starlink stopped processing any new pre-order.

“For a lot of users, Starlink makes sense. Our goal is to provide context for how Starlink could be a great fit for connectivity in numerous situations. A 100% Broadband India will require collaboration across stakeholders, service providers, and technologies, and we encourage everyone to think about their use cases and develop connectivity plans for districts as well as private use,” Bhargava wrote in response to the government order.

That would be the last pro-Starlink post from Bhargava, though. In early January 2022, he stepped down from his role after just four months on the job.

His departure was a direct reaction to another government request, which forced Starlink to refund all of the 7,000+ pre-orders it had amassed. Furthermore, the Indian government advised people to not subscribe to Starlink until it received the necessary license.

Over the coming months, nothing of material importance was disclosed. Meanwhile, new satellite-based Starlink competitors started to emerge in the country, most notably Jio and Hughes Communications.

Even SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk did not have a definitive answer on when Starlink would finally get the ok to launch in India.

Finally, in October 2022, some glimmer of hope returned. A report by the Economic Times stated that Starlink would soon apply for a Global Mobile Personal Communications By Satellite (GMPCS) license.

Interestingly, OneWeb, one of Starlink’s largest competitors and backed by India’s Bharti Group, had previously filed for the same license.

With that being said, let’s explore when Starlink may come to India.

When Is Starlink Coming to India?

So far, the report by the Economic Times is the last we heard about Starlink’s business endeavors in India.

When checking on Starlink’s availability map, it still states that it’s launch is “pending regulatory approval.”

However, once Starlink receives the go from the government, it should not take too long for the service to launch.

Previously, Starlink projected to receive approval by January 2022, with a launch occurring a mere three months later in April.

Hope may be on the horizon, though. Back in June 2023, Musk met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss bringing both Tesla production and Starlink internet to the country.

How Much Will Starlink Cost in India?

Right now, there’s no verifiable information on how much Starlink may cost once it launches. However, there are at least some data points that may help us in assessing future pricing.

First, when Starlink took pre-orders in India, it priced its service at $99 per month (Rs 7,346 at the time) while charging a one-time hardware fee of $499 (~ Rs 37,000).

Pricing was similar to what consumers in the United States paid at the time. Starlink has since altered its pricing in the States to $110 per month, citing inflation and higher interest rates as the reasons.

On the other hand, this isn’t necessarily what consumers in other countries are charged. In large parts of Europe, for example, Starlink costs between $65 to $90 per month (feel free to check out our global price list to see what consumers across the world pay).

Another price-mitigating factor may be the launch of additional satellite-based internet service providers, namely Jio and Hughes Communications, in the country.

While neither have disclosed costs for consumers, the added competition should certainly put further pressure on Starlink to adapt its own pricing structure.

Therefore, I would assume that Starlink will enter the Indian market at a far lower rate than the initially proposed ~ Rs 7,346. By how much remains to be seen.

As such, nailing Starlink’s business model strategy is of critical importance. Starlink, 2+ years into being launched, is already a money-making machine raking in ten figures in revenue. But exactly how does Starlink achieve this feat?

In this article, I’ll examine how Starlink makes money, what business model strategy it pursues, how much revenue it generates, and whether the service is actually profitable.

How Does Starlink Make Money?

Starlink makes money from monthly subscription fees, one-time hardware and shipment fees, top-ups, as well as account management fees.

The income it generates from those revenue streams is dependent on where the customer is located and what is being sold (B2C versus B2B plans).

Starlink also charges different fees depending on the country the customer is based in. Feel free to refer to our global price list to check out the pricing f

For example, consumers in the United States pay $599 for the hardware as well as $90 to $120 per month for their subscription.

In European countries like France or Greece, monthly subscription fees hover around the €50-a-month mark, with hardware also costing less.

The simple reason why customers are charged different prices is grounded in local purchasing power as well as demand.

After all, the average Hungarian or Mexican will simply not be able to pay $120 per month for internet.

Additionally, demand for its services is simply not as high in well-connected markets like Japan or France. As a result, Starlink has to reduce prices even further.

Another income source is the add-on fees Starlink imposes on mobile users. Those subscribed to either RV (now called Roam) or Portability pay an additional fee per month, on top of the $120 they are already charged.

Consumers aren’t the only ones subscribed to Starlink, though. The firm also offers various plans for businesses, which can cost substantially more.

Starlink’s Maritime plan, largely aimed at cruise and vessel operators, begins at $1,000 per month while the hardware will set them back by another $5,000 (there’s also a consumer-focused Maritime plan costing $250/month).

Meanwhile, Starlink Business costs a minimum of $140 per month, on top of one-time hardware fees that equal $2,500. Starlink is expected to introduce additional plans, such as a mobile service or for buses, in the future.

Furthermore, users of Business and Maritime can top up Priority Data access at $0.50 and $2.00 per GB, respectively.

Starlink also imposes account management fees on enterprise customers ordering large quantities.

And lastly, subscribers can also purchase accessories within Starlink’s shop, including the Ethernet Adapter or various mounts.

This grants customers access to dedicated support for placing orders, activating the service, managing subscription features, and so forth.

Starlink may get cheaper in the future, though. As competition levels are increasing, SpaceX may be forced to decrease prices to keep up with new entrants and thus minimize customer churn (especially considering that its contracts can be cancelled at any time).

The Starlink Business Model Explained

The business model of Starlink is largely centered around subscriptions, meaning it derives recurring revenue from ongoing customer payments for its various satellite internet services.   

Right now, Starlink is more or less the only game in town when it comes to low-earth orbit (LEO) internet. As a result, Starlink is able to (mostly) offer high-speed and low-latency internet in areas that have previously been deprived of it.

Competitors like HughesNet or Viasat, which rely on a few geostationary satellites (further distance and fewer satellites mean higher latency and slower speeds), can simply not compete when it comes to performance.

And potential competitive threats like Amazon’s Kuiper Systems are still months or even years away from launching their own offerings.

The only other satellite-based ISP relying on a LEO constellation that’s currently operational is OneWeb, which competes with Starlink in the B2B space.

Rising competition, given the limited size of the satellite internet market, is one of the major reasons why Starlink and thus SpaceX may ultimately end up failing.

Starlink’s strategy is, therefore, centered around maximizing adoption in both its existing markets and the ones it plans to enter going forward.

Once customers are tied to the ecosystem, they are less likely to churn (i.e., cancel their subscription). After all, there are some opportunity costs involved, namely regarding the purchase price of the hardware.

Interestingly, Starlink has also implemented tactics that enabled subscription pioneers like Netflix to become global powerhouses. More precisely, Starlink subscriptions can be canceled at any time and without any penalty fees.

On the other side, more established competitors like HughesNet abused their previously existing market power by charging hefty cancellation fees if you wanted to get out of your plan.

Consequently, the no-risk-attached policy (Starlink’s plan can be canceled at no cost within 30 days) motivates users to give the new service a try.

And they’ll likely stick around, simply because Starlink’s performance is that much better than what geostationary satellite operators offer.

Another aspect to consider with Starlink’s rapid adoption strategy is regulatory approval and potential scrutiny. Astronomers are already starting to point out that Starlink’s and other LEO satellites are negatively affecting the vision of telescopes.

Starlink, just like any other satellite internet provider, relies on regulatory approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be able to deploy satellites.

If public sentiment continues to shift against large-scale satellite constellations, there may not be enough political leeway for Starlink to be able to receive the necessary approvals.

However, it could also prevent the entrance of other competitors, which is certainly a net positive given the limited size of the satellite internet market.

Starlink, in an effort to sell even more subscriptions and hardware, is also partnering with the likes of Best Buy, Home Depot, or Costco.

On the B2B side, SpaceX also works with satellite operators like SES that resell its hardware and internet services to various maritime-related companies.

Those retailers resell Starlink’s hardware in their shop for which they’ll likely get a cut from both the hardware sale and ongoing subscription revenue.

Licensing its constellation may also become a significant revenue driver for Starlink. A partnership with T-Mobile is currently in the works, allowing customers to access the internet in areas with no cell coverage.

Similar agreements have already been implemented with One (New Zealand) and Telstra (Australia).

Those carriers will likely pay Starlink a licensing fee every time a customer connects to one of its satellites.

Lastly, Starlink can also leverage its existing constellation into more lucrative government contracts vis-a-vis its Starshield offering.

For example, the US Space Force awarded a $70 million contract to SpaceX on September 1st alongside 18 other companies.

How Much Revenue Does Starlink Generate?

Since Starlink parent SpaceX remains in private ownership, neither company is obligated to disclose how much revenue it generates.

However, the kind folks at The Wall Street Journal were able to retrieve confidential documents, which indicate how much Starlink is currently bringing in.

According to the publication, Starlink generated $222 million in revenue for 2021 and a whopping $1.4 billion across 2022.

Back in 2015, when Starlink was still in its ideation stage, SpaceX CEO Musk predicted that Starlink would generate $12 billion in revenue for the fiscal year 2022.

While those projections haven’t materialized, Starlink’s growth is very impressive nonetheless. From 2021 to 2022, it grew by almost 7x, which is particularly mind-blowing when considering that Starlink is a hardware company first.

Most of that revenue growth can be explained by its vastly increasing subscriber count. Here’s a breakdown of how much Starlink has grown since it was first launched in November 2020:

In 2022 alone, Starlink’s subscriber count rose from 145,000 to over one million. One aspect is the fact that Starlink was launched in 20+ markets that year.

Another reason is its vastly expanding satellite constellation and ground station network, thus enabling Starlink to service even more users in its key markets (e.g., US, Canada, or Australia).

Additionally, business lines such as Maritime have allowed Starlink to tap into the more lucrative B2B market where its subscriptions fees (and thus margins) are even higher.

Going forward (towards the end of 2023 / beginning of 2024), a new product aimed at airlines and private jet operators, called Aviation, will be rolled out, thus furthering Starlink’s total addressable market.

That said, revenue growth will likely not remain that steep (7x YoY) as competition is increasing (e.g., OneWeb or Kuiper) and most markets are reaching their natural limits.

Is Starlink Profitable?

Yes, Starlink is profitable – at least according to Musk who recently tweeted that the company reached breakeven cash flows.

Breakeven cash flow is a point at which a company’s incoming cash flow equals its outgoing cash flow, meaning the business is not making a profit, but it’s also not losing money.

At breakeven, the company covers all its costs, including operating expenses and capital costs, but it does not have any leftover cash flow that could be considered a profit.

That said, Starlink is most likely not profitable on an annual basis. Again, we do not know for certain given that SpaceX and thus Starlink remain in private ownership.

Breadcrumbs about Starlink’s eventual profitability were already dropped in the past.

SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell, for example, stated that Starlink had a “cash flow positive quarter” in 2022. For the full year, the company still lost money, though.

First and foremost, Starlink is still a fairly nascent service after being launched in the US back in November 2020.

As such, the firm continues to invest heavily in launching satellites, setting up ground stations, hiring staff, acquiring the necessary licenses, and closing partnerships to be able to operate in new markets.

This also means that the firm is continuing to invest in manufacturing to get to profitable scale economies. Nowhere is it more evident than in the firm’s production of dishes.

When Starlink first launched, it allegedly cost the firm $3,000 to manufacture one piece of hardware (i.e., dishy, router, cables). And in 2021, a terminal would cost around $1,300 to produce.

Starlink has since been able to substantially reduce production costs to the point of selling them at no loss – at least according to Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president of Starlink and commercial sales.

Another important aspect to keep in mind are the costs of maintaining its constellation. Starlink’s satellites will need to be replaced every 5 to 6 years, with existing ones burning up almost completely when reentering earth’s atmosphere.

Data indicates that each Starlink satellite costs around $300,000 to produce, on top of $15 million for each Falcon 9 launch. A Falcon 9 normally transports 50 satellites, thus costing SpaceX around $30 million ($15 million + ($300k * 50 satellites)).

Additionally, Starlink has also donated a few thousand dishes to help Ukraine, which supposedly led to monthly losses of more than $20 million.

In the past, SpaceX founder Elon Musk stated that the deployment of Starlink’s constellation would cost between $20 billion and $30 billion.

But he also expects that positive cash flows could be reached after investments of $5 billion to $10 billion.

Starlink’s path to profitability thus hinges on subscriber growth as well as minimizing customer churn.

However, considering that the extensive development cost of Starship are allotted to SpaceX (from an accounting perspective), we can assume that Starlink isn’t too far off when it comes to being profitable.

Starlink first became available in the United States but has since expanded into 60 other countries across the globe.

And it took Starlink a mere 2.5 years to amass a subscriber base of 2 million. This means that the service now likely generates well over $1 billion in annual revenue.

The promise of Starlink is the enabling of fast and reliable internet anywhere on the globe. Starlink achieves this feat by launching thousands of satellites into earth’s low orbit.

By being closer to earth than the satellites of classic satellite internet providers, some of which I’ll cover in this article, and by utilizing substantially more of them, Starlink is able to offer substantially faster download and upload speeds, on top of lower ping times.

Related: everything you need to know about Starlink

However, the reality doesn’t always match the theory. In late 2022, as subscribers were growing exponentially, some users reported the slowing of speeds. Nonetheless, most of them seem to be largely satisfied.

With that being said, Starlink is certainly not the only game in satellite internet town. In the following article, I will list the 8 biggest competitors Starlink currently faces.

Lastly, I just want to note that this is merely a business-related comparison and thus not an endorsement of either service presented here.  

1. HughesNet

Hughes Network Systems, the company behind HughesNet, is a Maryland-based satellite internet provider owned by EchoStar.

It was, for the longest time, the biggest satellite-based internet service provider (ISP) as measured by subscriber count.

However, its subscriber numbers have since shrunk to below 1.3 million, which means that Starlink has surpassed it.

With that said, the firm generates roughly $2 billion in annual revenue right now. It competes with Starlink in a variety of markets, most notably in the consumer space.

Related: Starlink vs. HughesNet - Here's everything you need to know

HughesNet’s personal plans offer download speeds of up to 25 Mbps, which are reduced to 1 to 3 Mbps after data caps are met.

Much like Viasat, the lower speeds and latency are a result of how HughesNet operates. Its ‘constellation’ is comprised of two geostationary satellites, which consequently are located further away.

HughesNet the service was first unveiled in 1996 as DirecPC. Eventually, in 2012, it was reintroduced as HughesNet after launching a broadband service that year. Apart from the United States, HughesNet also serves fast parts of Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. 

2. Viasat

Viasat is the second largest broadband satellite internet service in the United States, boasting a subscriber base of 590,000 customers in the United States alone. Apart from consumer plans, it also sells to B2B customers, including airlines, maritime firms, defense, and small businesses.

The company offers various satellite internet plans, with download speeds of up to 150 Mbps and download caps totaling 500 GB. Meanwhile, latency can be as high as 600 MS, which is up to 10 times higher than what Starlink provides.

Meanwhile, its internet services are made possible by two geostationary satellites, namely ViaSat-1 (launched in 2012) and ViaSat-2 (deployed in 2017). Those two satellites enable Viasat to offer broadband internet to consumers in the United States as well as Mexico and Brazil.

Its newest satellite, the ViaSat-3, hasn’t fared too well thus far. The satellite, which was deployed in July 2023, experienced a malfunction and may not become functional, thus leading to hundreds of millions in losses.

Interestingly, Viasat and Starlink also share some common history in court. Viasat, together with its reselling partner Dish Network, sued SpaceX in 2021 to prevent additional Starlink satellite launches. The two competitors claimed that the FCC failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as it did not carry out any environmental assessments.

3. OneWeb

OneWeb is Starlink’s biggest competitor in the low-Earth orbit (LEO) industry. The firm completed its 648-satellite-strong constellation back in March 2023.

Meanwhile, the constellation is roaming earth in a distance of 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) versus Starlink’s 550 kilometers (340 miles). As a result, latency for OneWeb’s internet is slightly higher (since the signals satellites emit have to travel further).  

It will utilize that constellation to offer a variety of different services largely aimed at B2B customers. More precisely, it competes with Starlink in the small business, maritime, government, and aviation industries.

Check out our detailed comparison of OneWeb vs. Starlink here

Unfortunately, the road to commercialization hasn’t always been smooth. After raising almost $3 billion in funding, OneWeb had to file for bankruptcy in early 2020.

Soon after, the UK government, where OneWeb is headquartered, and Indian conglomerate Bharti Global each invested $500 million into the firm to become its joint majority owners.

Two years later, OneWeb merged with France’s Eutelsat in a transaction that valued the former at $3.4 billion.

Interestingly, there’s some overlap between Starlink and OneWeb, too. After sanctions against Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine, OneWeb contracted SpaceX to launch its remaining satellites into space.

4. Telesat

Telesat, which was first established in 1969 by the Canadian government, competes with SpaceX and Starlink in a variety of different domains. It currently operates a geostationary satellite fleet in C-, Ku- and, Ka-bands aimed at corporate, telecom, and government customers.

This enables Telesat to not only provide satellite internet services across a variety of different applications, such as aviation or maritime but also broadcast TV signals.

And since 2017, Telesat has also entered the LEO satellite game. Dubbed Lightspeed, the planned constellation of 1,600 satellites is set to bring high-speed internet to consumers across the globe. It launched its first satellite back in January 2018, which is now used for live demonstration purposes.

Telesat, to deploy the constellation, went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in late 2021. The IPO would enable the firm to raise the necessary $5 billion it needs to deploy the satellites. Meanwhile, the firm already generates around CA$750 million on an annual basis (2022).

5. Kuiper Systems

Kuiper Systems is a project by e-commerce giant Amazon, which plans to eventually launch a total of 3,236 satellites into earth’s low orbit (at 590 to 630 km or 370 to 390 miles distance). The offering, also dubbed Project Kuiper, was first announced in 2019.

Right now, no satellites have been deployed by Amazon and its three launch partners, namely Blue Origin (founded by Jeff Bezos, so no surprise right there), United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Arianespace.

Read how Project Kuiper & Starlink stack up against each other here

Furthermore, Amazon announced that it would invest $10 billion into the project. Unfortunately, information regarding pricing, hardware, and general availability is still limited.

Kuiper Systems does share one other similarity with Starlink, though. Rajeev Badyal, its president, held a similar role at Starlink from which he was fired back in 2018.

6. Telstra

Telstra Group Limited, first established in 1975, is Australia’s largest telecommunications company by market share. Starlink itself has been available in Australia since April 2021 and achieved total coverage roughly 1.5 years later (11/2022).

With annual revenues of more than AU$21 billion, it isn’t surprising that Telstra provides nearly any connectivity service imaginable. Its offerings range from mobile 5G internet plans all the way to IoT solutions aimed at businesses.

The firm’s satellite internet solutions are solely aimed at enterprise customers. These are made possible by the more than 60 satellites the firm operates. And despite the fact that most of its revenue is derived from Australia, its satellite internet service does offer global coverage.

Interestingly, Starlink and Telstra are not just rivaling each other but have since become frenemies of sorts. In July 2023, Telstra announced a partnership with Starlink to boost connectivity in rural areas.

7. Freedomsat

Freedomsat is one of Starlink’s largest competitors in the United Kingdom as well as across markets in the Middle East, Africa, and South America.

Another traditional satellite internet provider, Freedomsat offers download speeds of up to 30Mbps in the UK. It utilizes a small satellite dish and modem, which are both installed by the firm’s own employees.

Its various plans, which are aimed at consumers and businesses alike, are all data-capped and thus do not offer unlimited surfing.

Freedomsat, apart from selling satellite internet, also offers fiber and 4G broadband plans to consumers.

8. NBN Sky Muster

NBN Sky Muster, which is owned and operated by the Australian government, is powered by two geostationary satellites – both of which are are positioned 35,786 kilometers above the equator, north of Australia.

The state-funded service offers a variety of different internet plans while promising download speeds of up to 100 Mbps. However, performance will be significantly worse if you opt into one of its cheaper plans.

Starlink has since led to a significant shedding of NBN’s subscriber base. In recent months, NBN has lost over 50,000 subscribers, most of whom have likely switched to Starlink.

In short, rocket manufacturer SpaceX currently owns Starlink. The internet provider is a sub-division of SpaceX and was first birthed in 2015.

However, SpaceX may actually not own Starlink in perpetuity. Why that may be the case as well as a slew of other questions will be answered in the next few chapters.

Will SpaceX Own Starlink Forever?

As it stands, Starlink remains in the hands of SpaceX. The two operate in somewhat of a symbiotic relationship in that Starlink utilizes SpaceX’s launch capabilities to deploy its constellation.

SpaceX, in return, may eventually profit from the supposedly higher margins that Starlink is expected to yield (more on that in the next chapter).

Regardless, SpaceX may not own Starlink forever. More precisely, SpaceX plans to spin off Starlink whenever the latter goes public.

A separate business entity is created whenever a company is spun out of another. Existing shareholders in the parent company (SpaceX, in this case) consequently receive stock in the new spun-out firm (Starlink). The number of shares they receive is dependent on the number of shares they own in the parent company.

There are multiple reasons why one company would spin out of another. One of the biggest aspects is that shareholders believe that the newly created company can accrue substantially more value by itself than as a division.

The most prominent example of this being the case was PayPal’s separation from eBay in 2015. Similarly, Starlink would possibly create substantially more value for its shareholders if it were spun out.

But why is that the case? The simple answer is profitability and to a lesser extent revenue predictability. Starlink is eventually expected to operate at profit margins of around 50 percent, which makes for a much more compelling investment story.

Secondly, it is, at least for now, either the only game in town or at the very least a much more lucrative option compared to satellite providers like HughesNet or Viasat. As a result, customers are expected to stick with the service for much longer, which makes it easier to price in future revenue.

This, in turn, would allow Starlink to raise debt or equity-based funding at more favorable terms because investors can accurately predict returns.

Meanwhile, if Starlink were to remain with SpaceX, it would not be able to accrue as much stakeholder value. The reason is that SpaceX’s core launch business isn’t nearly as profitable as Starlink, especially with more competitors such as Rocket Lab or Blue Origin entering its turf.

How Much Does SpaceX Make from Starlink?

Unfortunately, since both SpaceX and Starlink are not publicly traded companies, neither of them are required to publicize their annual returns.

So, how much SpaceX is making from Starlink is pure speculation at this point. Luckily, we do have a few data points that would help us arrive at a ballpark figure.

For once, Starlink surpassed one million subscribers in December 2022. The majority of its customers are likely from the United States and Canada – the two markets Starlink launched in first.

Customers in the United States currently pay $110 per month, on top of a one-time hardware fee that is equal to $599. Canadians are charged a slightly higher amount (feel free to check our global availability and price list for additional reference).

If we just assume that all customers were on a $110 per month plan, then Starlink would generate $1.32 billion (= 12 months x $110/month x 1 million customers) in revenue per year. Starlink would’ve made another $590 million from hardware sales in that scenario.

However, the reality looks a little different. For once, Starlink is priced substantially cheaper in a lot of other markets across the globe. Second, SpaceX has donated a few thousand dishes to Ukraine in an effort to help the war-riddled country to fight off Russian troops.

On the other side, Starlink offers a variety of other plans, which are priced above the $110/month residential plan. For example, both RV (now called Roam) and Portability cost $135 per month.

And business plans incur even greater costs. Its maritime plan would put you down a cool $5,000 per month, on top of the one-time hardware costs of $10,0000.

If I were to guess, then SpaceX is already generating annual revenues of around $1 billion from Starlink. That number will certainly increase substantially going forward as more and more countries are approving Starlink as well as by Starlink adding even more lucrative business customers.

Who Are the Investors in Starlink?

Again, the people or rather institutions do not own shares of Starlink but SpaceX, which is Starlink’s parent company. Some of those investors may own Starlink shares once it is spun out of SpaceX and goes public.

With that being said, SpaceX currently boasts 79 total institutional investors and 10 lead investors according to its Crunchbase profile.

Lead investors include venture powerhouses such as Andreessen Horowitz or Founders Fund, government agencies like NASA or the United States Space Force, tech giants like Google, and asset managers such as Baillie Gifford.

A small portion of the SpaceX option pool is also made up of its employees who have been selling equity during various funding rounds. For example, back in December 2022, SpaceX allowed its employees to sell their existing shares at $77 apiece, consequently valuing the whole company at $140 billion.

The option pool of a tech company normally makes up 10 percent to 20 percent of the firm’s total stock.

However, Musk still owns around 44 percent of all shares while institutional investors have poured over $10 billion into SpaceX. Therefore, I would assume that the option pool is likely closer to 10 percent than it is to the higher mark.

Does Tesla Own Starlink?

No, Tesla does not own Starlink. In fact, the companies only share one commonality, which is that Elon Musk is the CEO of both Starlink owner SpaceX and Tesla.

Interestingly, though, Musk has hinted at a potential link-up between his two companies in the past. Starlink plans to eventually offer cellular services in the United States thanks to a partnership with T-Mobile.

When asked if Tesla car owners will be able to access the feature as well, Musk simply replied with “yes.”

Unfortunately, Tesla drivers should not expect to be able to watch 4K movies or play games online in their vehicles. When further pressed about the mobile option, Musk said that the cellular coverage would provide speeds of 2 to 4 megabytes per second.

In other good news, though: Tesla recently hinted at a potential installation of Starlink devices at its charging stations. The Hawthorne (SpaceX HQ) charger is already equipped with a Starlink dishy as the linked tweet indicated.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the company is over the hump just yet.

Both SpaceX and Starlink continue to face various headwinds that could potentially even lead to the companies’ demise.

Customers, investors, and most experts alike want to see Starlink succeed. After all, we at Starlink Insider obviously have a vested interest in Starlink’s continuous growth.

Nevertheless, there are a few different risks the firm currently has to cope with.

In summary, Starlink could fail because it does not receive regulatory approval, due to poor speed and a lackluster user experience, increasing competition, not reaching profitability soon enough, and failed launches.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at each of those risks in the sections below.

1. Not Receiving Regulatory Approval

While space itself is not owned by a single government, Starlink still can’t just launch rockets as it pleases. In order to launch satellites, it needs to be granted regulatory approval.

So far, regulators have largely played along. Most of the applications that SpaceX has submitted were approved by the various regulatory bodies it deals with. Back in June 2022, for instance, it was granted the ability to provide Starlink services on airplanes, boats, and trucks.

Similarly, in December 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted permission to SpaceX and Starlink, allowing them to deploy 7,500 Gen2 satellites into low-earth orbit (LEO).

However, this just tells part of the story. Starlink actually plans to deploy a constellation totaling 29,988 satellites, with the rest still pending approval.

And receiving FCC approval may not be a certainty as the past has shown. Back in August 2022, the FCC rejected Starlink’s application to receive $885.51 million in broadband funding. And since government-based funding is one of the key pillars to SpaceX reaching profitability, it needs to be able to attract this type of funding going forward.

Customers abroad may also need to be more patient in some instances. Starlink’s coverage map shows that it has received regulatory approval for a multitude of countries, thus launching in both 2023 and 2024.

Unfortunately, some do remain stubborn. For instance, Starlink has tried to operate in India for more than a year now. Back in November 2021, the Indian government even ordered the company to halt presales and return all orders until it received the ok.

Starlink’s initial target was to reach 200,000 paying subscribers by the end of 2022 – a feat it obviously did not achieve since its status in India remains in limbo.

Being granted approval in as many jurisdictions as possible is essential for Starlink to eventually reach profitability. In the past, Starlink representatives projected that it needs 10 million subscribers to become profitable. That number is naturally easier to achieve the more countries it is available in.

After all, Starlink is technically close to providing global internet coverage, so all it takes to start generating income is to send the hardware to subscribers.

Consequently, the fewer countries that allow Starlink to operate, the fewer potential customers it can appeal to, which makes it harder to reach the break-even number of 10 million subscribers. Starlink’s business model is certainly predicated on receiving the necessary regulatory approval.

Another disadvantage is that SpaceX wouldn’t be able to raise as much capital since its projected total addressable market (TAM) is not as high as expected.

2. Poor Speed & User Experience

One of the biggest reasons why customers have chosen Starlink is the promise of high-speed and low-latency internet.

For example, Starlink promises to offer a latency of 20 milliseconds versus the 600+ milliseconds that traditional geostationary satellite operators provide.

As a result, gamers and the like often chose Starlink for the speed that it promises. Unfortunately, that promise has fallen somewhat flat in recent times.

In September 2022, Oakla released a report which highlighted that both speed and latency worsened substantially for customers in high-demand markets like the United States or Canada.

For example, the median download rate for subscribers in the United States dropped from 90.55Mbps in Q1 to 62.53Mbps in Q2 2022. In Q3 2022, the median speed below fell to 53Mbps.

The reason for the worsening speed and latency metrics is due to congestion, meaning the demand for Starlink’s internet service is currently outpacing the capacity of its network.

Increasing data demands by its subscribers may even lead to a so-called congestive collapse, which would mean that the service would stop working altogether. That scenario, at least for now, seems very unlikely, though.

The level of congestion that subscribers suffer from is dependent on where they are located. Here in Germany, for example, we continue to receive blazing speeds, largely because the customer base is still fairly minuscule.

Unfortunately, across the pond, those bandwidth issues have not only led to slower speeds but also limitations imposed by Starlink itself.

In November 2022, Starlink announced that it would cap monthly downloads in the United States to 1 terabyte. Every additional gigabyte would incur costs of $0.25. However, it has to be noted that the cap does not apply to overnight usage between 11 pm and 7 am.

Dissatisfied customers are certainly a huge risk to Starlink going forward. But slower speeds affect the firm’s ability to attract outside funding and regulatory approval, too.

In the above-mentioned rejection, the FFC cited slowing speeds as well as recognized capacity constraints by Starlink as reasons for why it declined the bid.

Starlink needs to reach around 10 million subscribers to become profitable (currently at 1 million), so cleaning up its speed problems remains mission-critical. If speed issues continue to persist, then Starlink’s ability to reach that figure may be at risk.

3. Rising Competition

Starlink, although clearly in the lead, is not the only company that aims to offer internet services powered by LEO satellite constellations.

In fact, there’s a growing list of Starlink competitors that all have received regulatory approval from the FCC to deploy their own constellations.

Furthest ahead is OneWeb, which is close to completing its goal of launching 648 satellites. It aims to provide internet access in remote locations as well as on boats and airplanes.

OneWeb isn’t the only one trying to offer satellite-based internet services, though. Other competitors include Canada-based Telesat (proposed fleet of 1,600 satellites), Astra (13,620 satellites launched in 3 phases), and Amazon’s Project Kuiper (3,236 satellites in LEO by end of the 2020s).

Kuiper Systems, in particular, may become a very formidable competitor considering the deep pockets that Amazon has. Additionally, much like Starlink and SpaceX, it can take advantage of lower launch costs by tapping into Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin.

Right now, Starlink still benefits from its first-mover advantage. In the United States, for example, it competes against the likes of HughesNet and Viasat, which are not only more expensive but also provide substantially slower internet services and data allowances.  

This, as well as the popularity of SpaceX and in part its CEO Musk, has enabled Starlink to amass a subscriber base of 1 million in record time.

However, Starlink will have to either adapt its pricing or offer other lucrative services as levels of competition across the globe keep increasing.

Another risk that the rising levels of competition pose are environmental effects. With more and more visible satellites being launched into space, the vision of the night sky could be severely affected.

The FCC may thus decide against additional approvals in an effort to preserve the night sky and astronaut safety. This would not only diminish internet speeds but severely affect Starlink’s path to IPO and profitability, which is critical to achieving SpaceX’s mission of getting people to Mars.

Apart from satellite providers, Starlink may also face additional competition from companies that build their networks using fiber and wireless. If enough of their customers are moving over to Starlink, they would be incentivized to expand their infrastructure into more remote areas.

Some customers have actually said that they cancelled their existing subscriptions or pre-orders because other options, such as Verizon’s 5G Home, became available to them.

As a result, Starlink is in a somewhat delicate spot where it has to continue growing its subscriber base at a rapid clip while ensuring that the service (i.e., speed, data caps, customer support) doesn’t degrade any further.

4. Not Reaching Profitability Early Enough

History is not on Starlink’s side, to say the least. The overwhelming majority of satellite internet providers have either cratered or reorganized during bankruptcy filings.

Take, for example, the previously mentioned Starlink competitor OneWeb. In March 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy only to now be owned by the Government of the United Kingdom, Bharti Global, and previous backers like SoftBank.

SpaceX CEO Musk has said in the past that it would cost between $20 billion and $30 billion to deploy Starlink’s proposed constellation. Break-even is expected to be reached at a cost of $5 billion to $10 billion.

Starlink does profit from SpaceX’s prolific launch capabilities, which means that it can deploy satellites at comparatively lower costs. Additionally, SpaceX continues to raise billions in venture funding at very favorable terms, thus allowing it to continue incurring losses.

However, a huge reason why investors are willing to bankroll SpaceX is the projected revenue that Starlink is expected to reach. The firm aims to generate $36 billion in annual income on profit margins of 50 percent by the mid-2030s.

While a potential bankruptcy would not necessarily mean the end of SpaceX and Starlink (see Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, for example), it could severely impact the firm’s ability to operate for a substantial amount of time.

For example, key employees that hoped to receive a huge payday would lose a significant percentage of their equity value. A majority of them would likely quit their jobs as a result.

Bankruptcies also negatively affect a firm’s ability to raise debt and equity-based funding going forward. And in general, bankruptcy proceedings do last many months during which additional satellite launches may be halted. This, in turn, would allow Starlink’s competitors to catch up.

In the past, CEO Musk warned investors that bankruptcy may be a real risk due to supply chain issues faced by its Starship rocket. However, some indicate that it may just be a scare tactic to attract more government and venture funding (since backers would want to avoid losing their investments as well).

Plus, as I’ll detail in the next chapter, getting Starship to be reusable and launching frequently is mission-critical to Starlink since most of its Gen2 satellites will be transported onboard the rocket. Starlink’s ability to become profitable, at least for now, greatly hinges on the success of Starship.

5. Failed Launches

The last, albeit very unlikely reason why Starlink would not be successful, are continuously failed launches. Starlink satellites are in orbit for around 5 to 6 years, which means that the firm has to replace its entire fleet in that period.

Its satellites can fail to enter earth’s low orbit for a variety of different reasons. Back in February 2022, for example, Starlink lost 40 satellites due to a geomagnetic storm.

Launching one satellite into space costs the company an estimated $500,000, so losing an entire fleet of 40 causes damages worth $20 million.

However, Starlink satellites and their parts generally do not pose a threat to humans. They utilize a propulsion system to deorbit over multiple months, with the individual parts being burned when re-entering earth’s atmosphere.

Another potential launch failure that may occur is the deployment of Gen2 satellites, which is supposed to be carried out by SpaceX’s Starship rocket.

The Gen2 satellites are substantially bigger and heavier, thus requiring the more potent Starship rocket to be launched into space at scale. The first orbital test flight of Starship is still on hold and a date is yet to be announced.

While the existing Falcon 9 has successfully carried Gen2 satellites in the past, it isn’t equipped to transport masses of Gen2 satellites. In fact, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated during an event with T-Mobile that the Falcon 9 would only launch a mini version of Gen2 satellites into space.

Deployment of second-gen satellites is crucial for a variety of reasons. For example, the satellites are capable of beaming service directly to smartphones, which would potentially open up a completely new source of revenue for Starlink.

Additionally, the second generation is also more powerful. Current satellites (v1 and v1.5) offer a bandwidth of 18 gigabytes per second while Gen2 satellites are capable of delivering up to 80 gigabytes per second. This could alleviate the speed issues that SpaceX is currently suffering from.

Lastly, the Gen2 satellites are less visible to astronomers as well since they utilize darker coating, among other techniques. SpaceX plans to eventually deploy 30,000 Gen2 satellites, so there’s still a long way to go.

Not getting Starship off the ground (no pun intended) could thus severely impact its ambitions to deliver high-speed internet coverage across the globe.

The Bottom Line

Although Starlink has been able to amass hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in seemingly no time, it still has a long way to go until it becomes the juggernaut everyone expects it to be.

With that being said, while the highlighted risk are certainly not neglectable, Starlink seems to be well equipped to tackle them given its access to funding and launch capabilities.

And please let us know in the comments: how likely do you think it is that Starlink fails? And what is the biggest risk the firm faces?

In September 2023, the service surpassed 2 million subscribers, with revenues now reaching into the billions of dollars.

Therefore, consumers and investors alike are salivating at the chance of acquiring a stake in the company.  

In the following article, I’ll cover everything that there is to know about Starlink’s stock and IPO. Let’s get it going!

Is Starlink Publicly Traded?

No, Starlink is not a publicly traded company. It is currently owned by its parent company SpaceX, which itself remains in private ownership as well.

Therefore, as a private company, neither the shares of Starlink nor SpaceX are available to retail investors.

SpaceX itself, according to Crunchbase, has raised close to $10 billion from institutional investors like Fidelity, Google, and even NASA.

The company is currently valued at a whopping $125 billion after it raised close to $2 billion during the summer of 2022.

However, there is some hope that Tesla and maybe even retail investors will be able to receive preferential access to Starlink’s stock upon IPO.

After being asked by a Twitter user about “first dibs for Tesla retail investors,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said that he will do his “best to give long-term Tesla shareholders preference.”

Involving retail is certainly a viable strategy in driving interest for the company’s stock, which will consequently maximize price and thus the proceeds SpaceX and Starlink could fetch from a potential IPO.

Whenever Starlink goes public, it will likely be spun out of its parent company SpaceX and thus be publicly traded as a separate entity.

One of the biggest reasons is profitability. Starlink is eventually expected to operate at profit margins of around 50 percent, which makes for a much more compelling investment story.

SpaceX, on the other hand, will continue to operate in a cash-intensive environment to fulfill its mission to colonize Mars. Therefore, its profitability will be constrained for potentially decades to come, which isn’t necessarily what investors putting their money into a stock are looking for.

On the other hand, the valuation of a company like Starlink is much easier to plot given that it runs on a subscription basis with partial lock-in effects. Subscribers in rural areas often do not have many viable alternatives, which means they will likely stay loyal for years at a time.

After all, there is a large amount of historic data on a variety of different satellite communication operators, such as Iridium Communication, which act as comparables when pricing the stock.

By spinning off Starlink, SpaceX’s investors and shareholders can thus accrue substantially more value (i.e., higher share price) than if the two companies would go public together.

With that being said, let’s take a closer look at when Starlink is actually projected to go public.

When Will Starlink Go Public?

The latest estimates, both by Elon Musk and industry experts, see Starlink go public sometime in 2025 or 2026.

But how did they arrive at this prediction? The first indication of a potential Starlink IPO was first provided by SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell.

“Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public,” she told a group of investors back in February 2020.

Interestingly, internal calculations already had the company going public two years later. CNBC was able to get its hands on emails sent by Musk dating back to May 2019.

In the email, which was sent to various SpaceX employees, the SpaceX founder said that “it will probably make sense to take Starlink public in about three years or so.”

Therefore, Musk and SpaceX initially anticipated taking Starlink public sometime in 2022 – a feat that obviously did not materialize.

Why has the IPO been pushed back by another 3 to 4 years, though? The main man himself gave some pointers to the public as to why that’s the case.

First and foremost, operating a satellite communications company is an inherently complex operation that requires billions of dollars in upfront investments.

SpaceX previously estimated that it would cost around $10 billion to launch the 12,000 satellites it initially wanted to deploy. The company has since filed with the FCC to operate a network of 42,000 satellites.

Now, Starlink does possess one significant competitive advantage, which is that it can take advantage of the comparatively lower launch costs made possible by its parent company SpaceX.

This competitive advantage is particularly evident when looking at Starlink’s competitors. OneWeb, which plans to deploy around 630 satellites, had to contract SpaceX for launch services after it was forbidden to use Russia’s Soyuz rocket due to the war in Ukraine.

Those launch services are obviously costlier for OneWeb than what SpaceX would pay. Additionally, SpaceX often onboards its own satellites into contracted launches (a concept called rideshare), thus allowing the firm to ramp up its network substantially faster. In essence, Starlink’s competitors also fund portions of its business by contracting with SpaceX.

By the way, OneWeb also went through serious financial troubles itself, filing for bankruptcy back in March 2020. The bankruptcy and subsequent reorganization severely delayed additional launches, thus negatively affecting its bottom line.

Right now, SpaceX is likely absorbing the losses that Starlink incurs. Meanwhile, the parent company continues to raise funding from institutional investors who remain collectively excited about the prospects of space exploration and travel.

If Starlink were to go public now, even after reaching 1 million subscribers back in December 2022, its projected annual revenue run rate of $1.32 billion would still not be enough to wow investors – especially in a recessionary environment.

Predictable revenues and a clear path to profitability are thus essential parts of the story it would need to tell public investors during the IPO roadshow and beyond.

Back in 2017, SpaceX projected that Starlink would generate around $12 billion in revenue by 2022.

Given that Musk initially predicted to take Starlink public that year, this likely would’ve been the revenue estimate at which Starlink operates at healthy enough profit margins.

Therefore, Starlink would roughly need to 10x its current subscriber base of 1 million, which it predicts to reach by 2025 or 2026.

It certainly needs to amp up its deployment of new satellites as well as new market launches given that others, including OneWeb or Amazon’s Project Kuiper, are working on getting their respective constellation into customer hands.

Rising competition, given the limited size of the satellite internet market, is certainly one of the major reasons why Starlink and thus SpaceX may ultimately end up failing.

Musk himself essentially confirmed that estimate in June 2022, too. “I’m not sure exactly when that [IPO] is, but maybe it will be like — I don’t know, just guessing — three or four years from now,” Musk said at an all-hands meeting.

Once the firm is “in a smooth sailing situation” with “good predictability,” it would make sense for it to go public.

Interestingly, others think that a Starlink IPO might take place much sooner. Investor Chamath Palihapitiya, during a January 2023 episode of the All In podcast, laid out a few arguments as to why Starlink might already go public.

“He’s going to create breathing room for himself. This is the simplest and most obvious way for him to do it. It’ll give him a ton of more dry powder,” he said in the episode in reference to the margin loans Musk took on to finance the Twitter deal.

How to Invest in Starlink Before It Goes Public?

Unfortunately, regular folks like you and I do not have the ability to invest in Starlink or SpaceX before it goes public.

That privilege is normally reserved to institutional investors. SpaceX counts powerhouses like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, or Founders Fund as backers.

By law, investing in private companies is restricted to accredited and institutional investors. However, there are other practical reasons why a high-growth tech company like SpaceX would restrict access to institutional investors.

First, it would overcomplicate and further dilute the cap table. This would be a nightmare from an administrative perspective, especially if existing private investors wanted to load off some of their shares.

Second, investors normally get access to confidential company data such as revenue, profit/loss statements, the number of customers, and so forth.

SpaceX, which likely continues to incur losses, needs to maintain a positive public image, especially considering the potential danger it poses to astronauts or astronomers.

Negative press is particularly detrimental to a company seeking to go public as it could affect the amount of money it is able to raise during the IPO.

Starlink Stock Price Prediction: What Could It Be Worth?

As previously stated, both SpaceX and Starlink remain in private ownership. Since the stock is not publicly tradable, it is up to the people at SpaceX and its institutional investors to come up with a market-clearing price.

This notion obviously changes when Starlink goes public and its stock becomes available to the masses. So, how much would retail investors need to spend to acquire a stock of Starlink after it goes public?

For once, we do know how much institutional investors are paying to acquire a stake in SpaceX and Starlink.

In November 2022, Reuters reported that investors during the summer 2022 rounds paid $70 per share. That price point is set to increase to $85 as SpaceX is looking to raise money at a valuation of $150 billion.

Interestingly, this wasn’t even close to the price that previous investors were willing to pay for a share. Back in February 2022, SpaceX underwent a 10-for-1 stock split, thus reducing the price per share from $560 to $56 apiece.

While a stock split is only cosmetic in nature, it is often utilized by public companies to make the share price more accessible to the average retail investor.  

This is also the range where a lot of Starlink’s competitors have historically traded at. ViaSat, for instance, reached an all-time high of $92 per share back in May 2019 and currently trades around the $30 to $40 range.

The above-mentioned Iridium Communications has been trading around the $40 to $50 range throughout 2021 and 2022. 

Apart from the number of shares issued and industry comparables, there are a variety of other factors that determine the stock price of a company at the time of going public and beyond.

For once, investment banks taking companies public consider the firm’s previous valuation during the last funding round, performance measures such as revenue or profit, macroeconomic factors (e.g., interest rates), and future growth prospects.

One aspect that is unique to Starlink is the loyal following of its CEO Elon Musk. It wouldn’t be surprising if retail investors significantly drive up Starlink’s stock price when it goes public, thus leading to a popping of the stock price.

Luckily, those IPO pops normally only last a few days or weeks and subsequently reverse to the mean.

In summary, retail investors that want to purchase Starlink stock during and after the IPO can probably expect to pay somewhere between $50 to $100.