- Each Starlink terminal used to cost SpaceX $ 3,000 to make. Now it has been reduced to $ 1,500.
- Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, said the firm would not charge the total cost of the terminal for users.
- She said the price of the terminal should drop to a few hundred dollars in the next year or two.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said on Tuesday that the airline had reduced the cost of each Starlink terminal from $ 3,000 to $ 1,500 each.
Starlink customers have to pay $ 499 for the kit, which includes the user terminal – also known as ‘ominous’ – which indicates that SpaceX covers the remaining cost of $ 1,000 for each one it manufactures.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, but industry experts told Insider in December that it was not possible for the company to make each terminal for less than $ 500. They said it could cost SpaceX nearly $ 2,000 each.
Shotwell confirmed during a virtual panel discussion for the Satellite 2021 LEO Digital Forum on Tuesday that the company had to pay $ 3,000 for each terminal before lowering the price to $ 1,500.
$ 499 Starlink set displayed in box.
Thanks to Alex Lockie
“We are not asking our customers what it costs us to build those terminals,” she said, adding that SpaceX “has made great strides in reducing the cost” of each Starlink terminal by half the original amount. .
Currently, Starlink costs users $ 600 upfront for the “Better Than Nothing Beta” test – it includes a $ 99 monthly subscription and $ 499 for the kit that customers set up at home. It has a tripod, a WiFi router and a terminal that connects to the Starlink satellites.
Although it has not been confirmed how many terminals were sent to the beta subscribers, SpaceX noted in February that Starlink has more than 10,000 users in the US and abroad.
The company also ‘just rolled out a new version two that saved about $ 200 of the cost’ and expects the price of each terminal to drop to a few hundred dollars range within the next year or two, ‘according to Shotwell .
Each Starlink terminal initially cost SpaceX $ 3,000 to earn.
Ashish Sharma / SpaceX
Read more: Telarlommers says telecommunications tariffs for Starlink are not close to $ 499 initial cost tariff to cover SpaceX’s costs for satellite Internet electronics.
This is good news for Starlink users looking for lower service costs.
For US customers, $ 600 upfront is not bad because it can be cheaper than the big internet providers. But in the UK, the price of £ 439 for the package and a subscription fee of £ 89 for 150 megabits per second (Mbps) is expensive compared to some national providers, offering speeds up to 516 Mbps at £ 79 per month.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has spoken out in the past about the problems with financing Starlink.
The billionaire tweeted in February that the company “must go through the next year or so of a deep chasm of negative cash flow to make Starlink financially viable.”
He added that Starlink “is an incredibly difficult technical and economic endeavor”, but if it succeeds, the cost to users will improve every year.
Starlink’s 10th Mission this year, it launched Wednesday, sending a group of 60 satellites into orbit to expand SpaceX’s ever-growing constellation. The airline has more than 1,350 satellites in orbit and plans to launch 42,000 by 2027.