- SpaceX does not intend to add a low price to its Starlink Internet service, its president said on Tuesday.
- Rated prices are the norm for US ISPs, but Starlink wants to remain ‘simple and transparent’.
- Gwynne Shotwell said Starlink did not want to replace American internet giants such as AT&T.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said on Tuesday that the airline did not intend to offer tariff prices for its Starlink satellite internet service.
Average prices, where companies charge different amounts depending on the level of service, are popular among mainstream Internet providers in the US, such as Verizon and Xfinity.
Starlink users currently pay $ 99 per month for a subscription to the service, which is still in beta, plus $ 499 for the physical kit, which includes a router, tripod and satellite dish. Once set up, the kit connects to 1,300 Starlink satellites that radiate the Internet to Earth.
“I do not think we are going to do low pricing to consumers,” Shotwell told the Satellite 2021 “LEO Digital Forum” panel via CNBC. “We’re going to try to keep it as simple and transparent as possible, so there are currently no plans to increase consumers.”
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Shotwell, also SpaceX’s chief operating officer, said the company did not intend to replace major internet service providers such as AT&T and Comcast, and that Starlink “is very complimentary on the services they provide.”
“The Starlink system is best suited for highly dispersed rural or semi-rural populations,” Shotwell said, while other providers target urban areas and large cities. Starlink currently operates largely in rural areas, but also operates in some cities, such as parts of London, UK.
Shotwell said SpaceX did not have a time frame to get out of the beta phase, and said there was still “a lot of work to be done to make the network reliable.”
Since its launch of “Better Than Nothing Beta” in October, Starlink has amassed more than 10,000 users in six countries, including the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
On the virtual panel, Shotwell said SpaceX was initially focused on the US because [customers] Speak english and they are close and if they have a problem with their dish we can send one out quickly. ‘
Starlink customers in the US gave Insider mixed reviews on how fast and helpful SpaceX’s customer support team was when they needed help with Starlink. Some said it was friendly and thorough, but others eventually canceled their subscription.