On Saturday, October 24, SpaceX crossed the finish line and reached the 800 Starlink broadband Internet satellites in orbit, which were needed to provide “moderate” Internet coverage for much of Earth’s surface. Barely two days later, the company officially opened Starlink to “beta” subscribers, advertising 50MB to 150MB of broadband Internet service for $ 99 a month (plus a $ 499 hardware fee).
Demand for the new service is said to be brisk in the United States, and demand in Canada is becoming even more brisk – because just this month, regulators allowed Starlink to offer Internet service in Canada as well.
SpaceX Starlink Internet is coming – to Canada. Image source: Getty Images.
Well, how can this be weakened?
Yes, in a tweet heard in the Northern Hemisphere on November 6, the Canadian Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) announced that it had “given official approval to the @SpaceXStarlink low orbit constellation. ”
How important is this to Canada, and is it really a good deal at $ 99 with 50 Mbps internet speeds? With Comcast You may not think that the U.S. offers 200 mbps for less than $ 50 at U.S. metro stations, but that’s the case: You listen to the tweets of live Canadian (prospective) customers and hear their complaints, for example, $ 46 a month (presumably Canadian) 6 Mbps, $ 75 5 Mbps, or even $ 95 at a weak 2 Mbps, it is quite clear that the service offered by Starlink is a big step forward for many rural users.
Moreover, in order to win a $ 16 billion rural broadband contract from the FCC, SpaceX is working hard to reach up to 1 gigabyte per second – an improvement of up to 20 times over the initial capabilities of the beta service.
Why Canada?
In the meantime, Canada is a logical market for SpaceX to target the limited number of satellites in its orbit (the company eventually wants to place 12,000 satellites) and bring in some revenue to fund the expansion. While SpaceX promises “near-global coverage of the inhabited world” by 2021, the Starlink site explains that because it revolves around the initial deployment of Starlink satellites, SpaceX will really only offer North American and Canadian Internet in 2020. . ”
However, this is fine with Canada, which is happy to take up SpaceX’s offering. As Navdeep Bains, the ISED minister, explained, “our government recognizes that high-speed internet access is no longer a luxury – essential.”
Local media began reporting this week inviting them to participate in a beta program for Canadian customers. According to these reports, SpaceX offers Canadians almost exactly the same price of service as it offers in the United States – $ 129 C (about $ 98) for the service and $ 649 C ($ 495) for the hardware. And Musk recently tweeted the Canadian service promised a “big extension” of “6-8 weeks.”
What SpaceX means – and for investors
Even such relatively small numbers can contribute to SpaceX’s big business and offer a great opportunity for investors. As internal SpaceX documents show, the company hopes to generate up to $ 4 billion in annual revenue from Starlink subscriptions next year and increase that revenue to $ 22 billion a year by 2025, with operating profits reaching 60% -ot is.
This means that within a few years, Starlink – which did not generate revenue last year – could grow into a $ 13 billion profit machine. Oh, and here’s the best part: SpaceX plans to post an IPO on Starlink so you can own some of it. The COO itself said.
