Starlink hits “cash-flow breakeven”
November 3, 2023
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk’s broadband-by-satellite system, Starlink, has achieved “cash-flow breakeven” according to a company statement. There are more than 5,000 Starlink satellites in orbit. Privately held, it is valued at some $150 billion (€140.9bn).
While the claim is useful and anticipates the next ‘reveal’ of Starlinks global subscriber base (likely to be around 2.5 million ‘active users’) the company has not released any financial numbers to back up the claim.
What has been recently published is that Starlink’s revenues in 2022 was around $1.4 billion.
Musk has said that Starlink would mount an IPO once the business had achieved cash-flow breakeven.
Data has also come from a comprehensive report by Numbeo. They show some wide differences in Starlink pricing from nation to nation. For example, while US subscribers must pay $120 per month (and a hardware fee of $599), users in Germany pay just €50 per month and only €299 for hardware.
UK-based subscribers pay £499 for hardware and £75 for monthly service. Generally, European users pay €450 for the equipment although there are varied monthly fees ranging from €40 in France, €50 in Italy and €65 in Spain and Portugal.
Analysts say the differences are not that surprising given that Starlink is not designed as a mass-market product or service, but designed as a ‘gap-filler’ for those outside the range of normal established providers of broadband services.
All local prices have been expressed/converted to US dollars.
Hardware/Monthly
US $599 $120
Canada $361 $101
Mexico $460 $61
UK $606 $91
France $478 $43
Germany $318 $53
Japan $366 $44
Malaysia $483 $46
Brazil $396 $36
Peru $228 $50
Australia $381 $88
Nigeria $380 $48
Zambia $489 $35