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On Saturday, October 24, SpaceX crossed the line, reaching the 800 Starlink broadband Internet satellites in orbit needed to offer “moderate” Internet coverage to large portions of the Earth’s surface. Just two days later, the company officially opened Starlink to “beta” subscribers, advertising a 50Mb / s at 150Mb / s broadband Internet service at prices starting at $ 99 per month (plus a $ 499 hardware fee).
Demand for the new service in the US has reportedly been buoyant, and demand in Canada is about to get even more buoyant, as regulators approved Starlink to offer internet services in Canada just this month.
SpaceX Starlink Internet is coming – to Canada. Image source: Getty Images.
Well, how to download it?
Yes, in fact, in a tweet heard across the Northern Hemisphere, the Canadian Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) announced on November 6 that it had granted “regulatory approval for the @SpaceXStarlink constellation of satellites in low orbit “.
How important is this to Canada, and is $ 99 for an internet speed of just 50mbps a really good deal? With Comcast offering 200 Mbps for under $ 50 in metropolitan areas in the US you might not think it, but here’s the thing: listen to the tweets of euphoric (future) Canadian customers and hear their complaints about being forced to pay, say, $ 46 per month (presumably Canadian) for 6 Mbps, $ 75 for 5 Mbps, or even $ 95 for a paltry 2 Mbps, it’s pretty clear that Starlink’s service will be a big improvement for many rural users.
Additionally, in an effort to win a $ 16 billion rural broadband contract from the FCC, SpaceX is working hard to achieve speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second, up to a 20-fold improvement over the initial beta service capabilities.
Why Canada?
Meanwhile, Canada is a logical market for SpaceX to target with the limited number of satellites it has in orbit (the company eventually wants to put 12,000 satellites on) and bring in some revenue to fund its expansion. Although SpaceX promises “near-global coverage of the populated world” by 2021, the Starlink website explains that due to where the initial deployment of the Starlink satellites is orbiting, SpaceX can truly offer Internet coverage only “in the United States. North and Canada in 2020. ”
It’s okay with Canada, however, which is happy to welcome SpaceX into its offering. As ISED Minister Navdeep Bains explained, “our government recognizes that high-speed Internet access is no longer a luxury, it’s essential.”
Local media began reporting this week on invitations to participate in the outbound beta program for Canadian customers. According to these reports, SpaceX offers Canadians almost exactly the same price as the service it offers in the United States: 129 Canadian dollars (about 98 US dollars) for the service itself and 649 Canadian dollars (495 US dollars) for the hardware. And Musk recently tweeted a promise “big expansion” of the service in Canada “in 6-8 weeks”.
What it means for SpaceX and for investors
However, even relatively small numbers could represent big business for SpaceX and a big opportunity for investors. As SpaceX internal documents show, the company hopes to raise up to $ 4 billion in annual revenue from Starlink subscriptions as early as next year and to increase that revenue to $ 22 billion a year by 2025, with profit margins. operational up to 60%.
This implies that within a few years, Starlink – which didn’t generate any revenue until last year – could grow into a $ 13 billion profit machine. Oh, and here’s the best part: SpaceX plans to IPO Starlink so you can own a portion of it. The COO said so herself.
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