SpaceX announced that its satellite-powered internet service Starlink has crossed 1.5 million customers globally. The latest milestone comes around five months after the company reached its first million customers.
Starlink first came into existence in 2015, however, it wasn't until 2019 that SpaceX started deploying its first lot of low-orbit satellites that power the internet service. The company has plans to orbit 12,000 such satellites which would be enough to cover the entire planet. SpaceX already crossed the count of 4,000 Starlink satellites after it deployed 56 new ones using a Falcon 9 rocket earlier this week.
Thank you to our 1.5M+ customers around the world! 🛰️🌎❤️ pic.twitter.com/SDEyQ3RB5i
— Starlink (@Starlink) May 6, 2023
The satellite internet currently costs $120/mo for the service with speeds up to 100Mbps and a $599 one-time fee for the hardware that's required to catch the signal. It is currently available in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, and covers a major chunk of South America. While SpaceX is waiting for regulatory approval in India, it has plans to expand the service to some African countries, including Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique in 2023.
In addition to stationary locations like homes, its satellite internet has also been used in commercial flights and large moving vehicles such as RVs and campers. Earlier this year, Starlink invited some users to try out a $200/mo global roaming service.
