On September 27, local time, SpaceX's Starlink department announced that its global user base has exceeded 4 million, providing high-speed internet connections to over 4 million people in more than 100 countries, regions, and many other markets. 'Starlink serves over 4 million customers worldwide, thank you to all our global customers!'

This milestone means that in just 4 months from the end of May this year, Starlink added 1 million new customers.

Starlink was launched in 2015, with characteristics of large scale, low latency, and global coverage. It started providing product testing services in October 2020. By December 2022, the number of users reached 1 million, in September 2023 it reached 2.3 million, and in May 2024 it reached 3 million.

The launch and operation of Starlink satellites is one of SpaceX's important businesses. It not only provides internet services to remote areas but also supports commercial and military applications. Currently, Starlink operates the largest low-orbit broadband satellite network. SpaceX has launched 7062 Starlink satellites, with this number constantly increasing. The number of Starlink satellites in orbit operation has reached 6426.

For a long time, Starlink's business has been seen as a 'cash flow abyss' for SpaceX. Mass production of Starlink terminals is the primary goal and key to profitability.

The pricing of Starlink terminals is based on terminal + data plan. The basic terminal costs $599 each, and the basic data plan costs $120 per month. For higher-demand Starlink customers, such as mobile, maritime, or aviation users, the prices of antennas and services sold by SpaceX range from $2500 to $1.5 million each.

In September 2023, Jonathan Hofeller, Vice President of SpaceX in charge of Starlink and commercial sales, revealed that Starlink terminals are no longer sold at a loss. In November 2023, Starlink announced that it had achieved break-even.

The latest report from the aerospace research and consulting firm Quilty Space states that from 2023 to 2024, user growth has driven Starlink from significant losses to profitability.

A report released by Quilty Space in May of this year estimated that 95% of Starlink users are individual consumers. The institution estimates that Starlink is expected to generate revenue of $6.6 billion in 2024, an 80% year-on-year increase (achieving revenue of $1.4 billion in 2023); Starlink's EBITDA in 2024 is projected to be $3.8 billion, marking the first positive free cash flow.

This is still far from SpaceX's initial goals. According to documents filed by the company in 2015 when raising funds from investors, SpaceX estimated that this satellite network business could bring in nearly $12 billion in revenue and $7 billion in operating profit by 2022; in terms of users, it was predicted that by the end of 2022, Starlink's active subscribers would exceed 1 million households, whereas SpaceX's earlier forecast was higher, reaching 20 million households.

Global satellite operators are actively deploying low-orbit communication constellations, with commercial prospects and scarce orbital resources being the key driving forces for accelerated deployment. Currently, the main global low-earth orbit satellite internet constellations include Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, Eutelsat OneWeb, and Telesat Lightspeed; the latter three constellations are planned to have 3236, 648, and 198 satellites respectively. In addition, traditional leading constellations such as Intelesat, SES, and Viasat are also planning to invest in low orbit.

According to Guosen Securities' calculations, the global market space for satellite manufacturing exceeds $100 billion, while the market space for applications is about $200 billion. China is accelerating the construction of low-orbit satellite constellations, successfully launching experimental satellites multiple times in 2023, new planning for the "G60 Starlink" with the first satellite already offline production, breakthroughs in private rocket technology, completion of the first position at the Wenchang commercial launch site, and multiple mobile phone manufacturers planning to open satellite direct connection; it is expected that in 2024, domestic large-scale launches of low-orbit communication satellites will begin, and the industry will usher in a highly prosperous year of development from construction level "0 to 1", and the entire industry chain opportunities are worth paying attention to.

The institution stated that the cost of Starlink satellite manufacturing is less than $2000/kg, leading globally; the "Falcon 9" is the main launch vehicle for Starlink, with launch costs expected to be optimized to $17 million per launch, leading the industry. Low cost is a manifestation of economies of scale, and it also sets a price benchmark for the subsequent deployment of domestically made low-orbit satellite internet.