SpaceX's Starlink has over 1000 satellites in orbit; could disrupt telecom by providing internet to the world

Elon Musk believes Starlink could capture a piece of the $1 trillion market for internet services, potentially disrupting telecom providers.


Alfred Lee

24 Jan, 2021

SpaceX's Starlink has over 1000 satellites in orbit; could disrupt telecom by providing internet to the world | BEAMSTART News

- From our Sponsors -

Elon Musks's SpaceX could disrupt the telecommunications industry in the near future as the company seeks to provide affordable internet across the globe.

Since SpaceX began sending rockets into space, the company has been launching batches of 60 Starlink satellites at a time (per-launch) on its Falcon 9 rockets.

Starlink satellites can be seen from earth.

Today, there are more than 1000 mini-satellites as part of the Starlink constellation surrounding earth's orbit, which can be seen from certain places in the world.

From the constellation of satellites, Starlink is capable of "beaming" internet directly to earth at potentially lower costs than telecommunications providers, posing a threat to them in the near future.

A Starlink satellite in space orbiting earth.

Elon Musk believes that Starlink has the potential to capture a piece of the $1 trillion market for in-flight internet, maritime services, and internet access in rural parts of the world.

Starlink has been capable of delivering internet download speeds of up to 100 megabytes per-second, and upload speeds of 15 - 20 megabytes per-second — significantly better than speeds offered by certain mobile carrier services.

Elon Musk standing in front of a SpaceX rocket.

As of today, there are already thousands of people signing up as early adopters for Starlink's internet services.

“There will always be early Starlink adopters who think that anything from Elon Musk is cool. But it’s hard to see the satellite trajectory keeping pace with the improvements coming with cellular,” said John Byrne, a telecom analyst at GlobalData.

Just 2 weeks ago, Elon Musk became the world's richest person, with a net worth crossing $185 billion as Tesla's shares skyrocketed.

As of today, SpaceX is still a private company.

- From our Sponsors -

Latest Jobs

Head of Sales

Nest Genomics

Full Time

USD 100000 — USD 120000 yearly

Senior Software Engineer - AI Platform

Promise

California,

Full Time

USD 150000 — USD 215000 yearly

Senior Infrastructure Engineer

Front

Île-de-France,

Full Time

Salary Undisclosed

Founding Sales and Growth Marketing Lead

Avoca

California,

Full Time

USD 100 — USD 150 yearly

Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Product)

Rally UXR

California,

Full Time

USD 175000 — USD 200000 yearly

Energy Management System Engineer

Posh

California,

Full Time

USD 100000 — USD 150000 yearly

Senior Software Engineer (Product)

Numeral

California,

Full Time

USD 200000 — USD 300000 yearly

Platform Engineer / SRE

Langfuse

Berlin,

Full Time

USD 70000 — USD 130000 yearly

DevOps Engineer

Clinikally

Haryana,

Full Time

USD 800000 — USD 2000000 yearly

Founding Account Executive in SF

Hyperbound

California,

Full Time

USD 260000 — USD 300000 yearly

BEAMSTART is a hub for everything Startups, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. Connect with a global community of people, and stay updated with the latest startup jobs, news, and discussions.

 
© 2016 - 2025 BEAMSTART. All Rights Reserved (Legal).