Starlink is Crushing the Satellite Internet Game and Planning Big Expansion!
For years, satellite internet access was synonymous with slowness, latency, and high prices. But that changed when a private company decided that they promised a faster, more stable, and global connection.
Today, the data confirms it: the satellite internet war is over. Companies that relied on geostationary satellites 36,000 kilometers high—technology that dominated the market for decades—have not been able to resist the advance of the new constellation.
Measurements from Ookla show a stark difference: the low-earth orbit satellite network offers an average latency of 45 milliseconds, compared to the 680 milliseconds of traditional competitors. In speed, the advantage is also clear: the new service is more than twice as fast as HughesNet or Viasat.
The result has been devastating for the old guard: as they lose subscribers at an accelerated rate, Elon Musk’s network already surpasses six million active customers. And it’s no coincidence. The company controls the entire process: from satellite production to launch and operation, in an industrial chain that no other space company can replicate.
A constellation that already dominates Earth’s orbit
In just six years, , of which about 8,700 are currently operational. To put it into perspective, two out of every three active satellites in the world belong to this constellation.
The pace of launches is so high that , has become the most reused and efficient vehicle in space history. Each flight places dozens of new satellites in orbit, expanding a network that already covers virtually the entire planet.
But the real leap is yet to come. The company does not plan to stop at rural or remote services: it now aims to compete directly with fiber optic and cable networks, offering comparable speeds—and coverage that terrestrial operators cannot match.
The next step: Internet directly to mobile
To achieve this, the company , which allows direct connection from a 4G or 5G mobile phone without the need for ground antennas.
In addition, it has begun an ambitious expansion into new markets: it acquired key radio spectrum, negotiated agreements with mobile operators, and left behind emerging competitors such as AST SpaceMobile, who aspired to the same segment.
With these moves, the company is no longer just competing in space: it is infiltrating the terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure, aiming for a future where connectivity does not depend on cables, towers, or local coverage.
Starship: the master plan behind the global network
The definitive step will be Starship, the gigantic next-generation rocket that will multiply deployment capacity. Until now, the second-generation satellites (V2 Mini) were limited by the size of the Falcon 9, but , will be much larger and more powerful.
Each Starship launch will add 60 terabits per second of download capacity to the network, a figure 20 times higher than the current one. In other words, a single flight could expand the global bandwidth of the network more than all launches in 2024 combined.
With this leap, the company aims to democratize gigabit connectivity, unifying satellite, mobile, and fiber under a single planetary architecture. If the plan works, there will no longer be areas without connection, and the monopoly of terrestrial broadband could be numbered.
A connected future from orbit
What started as a project to bring internet to remote places is transforming into a planetary network capable of competing with the world’s largest operators.
While the rest of the industry tries to adapt, Musk’s company is already thinking about its next phase: an infrastructure that connects not only homes and mobile devices, but also vehicles, planes, ships, and IoT devices, in a fully integrated ecosystem.
[Source: ]
