SpaceX: 145,000 Starlink users
January 10, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband by satellite system already has some 145,000 users and has been adding customers at a rate of about 11,000 per month, according to CNBC.
That customer base is spread over 25 countries, said the broadcaster. However, new additions have slowed in recent months and by only 5000 from early November.
CNBC quoted SpaceX engineer Jessie Anderson who said at the company’s first launch of the year that Starlink now has more than 145,000 users in 25 countries around the world. That’s up from 140,000 users in early November. Starlink said that the global shortage of silicon chipsets is not helping growth.
However, Elon Musk’s company is not having the best of times. For example, Musk has lost the head of his Indian operation (Sanjay Bhargava) who left at the end of December amidst problems with the Indian regulator demanding that around 5000 Indian customers have their deposits for early installation of Starlink terminals returned to them. Moreover, it seems that Starlink’s application to obtain a licence to operate and start work in India is very much stuck in the long grass.
Bhargava had spoken last year of achieving 200,000 broadband subs in India by the end of this year. That target must now be very questionable.