There are no plans for Starlink Internet pricing by levels

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell doesn’t believe the company will add “tiered pricing” for its direct-to-consumer Starlink satellite Internet service, which is currently offered at $ 99 a month with limited early access.

“I don’t think we’re going to make prices by levels to consumers. We’ll try to make it as simple and transparent as possible, so right now there are no plans for consumers,” Shotwell said. , speaking Tuesday at Satellite 2021’s “LEO Digital Forum” in a virtual panel.

In a tiered pricing system, what the customer pays is based on the level of service they choose.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected Internet network with thousands of satellites, known to the space industry as a constellation, designed to provide high-speed Internet to consumers in any part of the world. planet.

The company has launched more than 1,200 satellites into orbit so far.

In October, SpaceX began implementing the first Starlink service in a publicly available version that now extends to customers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and New Zealand, with a $ 99 a month service in the United States. , in addition to an initial cost. for the equipment needed to connect to the satellites.

Elon Musk’s company has continued to expand Starlink’s service, with the public beta gaining more than 10,000 users in its first three months. Shotwell noted that SpaceX does not “have a deadline to get out of beta,” saying the company still has “a lot of work to do to make the network reliable.”

Musk’s company plans to expand Starlink beyond homes, asking the FCC to extend its connectivity authorization to “moving vehicles,” so the service could be used with everything from airplanes to ships. and large trucks.

For now, SpaceX is focusing on serving customers in rural, hard-to-reach areas, with Shotwell saying Starlink “will be able to serve all U.S. rural homes,” or “approximately 60 million people.” While SpaceX is adding service to other countries, Shotwell said SpaceX is initially focused on the United States “because they speak English and are close, and if they have a problem with their dish, we can send one quickly.”

“But we definitely want to expand that capacity beyond the United States and Canada,” Shotwell added.

One of the main hurdles for Starlink, as well as for any satellite-based broadband service, is the cost of user terminals – the ground equipment that connects customers to the network.

Shotwell said SpaceX “has made great strides in reducing the cost” of the Starlink user terminal, which was originally about $ 3,000 each. He said the terminals now cost less than $ 1,500 and SpaceX “just released a new version that saved about $ 200.”

This means that SpaceX absorbs about two-thirds of the cost of the terminals, as the company charges beta customers $ 499 in advance for a user terminal. Musk said earlier this year that Starlink “must go through a deep abyss of negative cash flows,” a significant portion of which is expected to be due to the cost of user terminals.

While SpaceX has so far not charged customers the full cost of the terminals, Shotwell said the company expects their cost to be reduced to “a few hundred dollars in the next two or two years.”

Shotwell reiterated previous comments from SpaceX’s leadership that Starlink does not want to replace the service of “giant providers AT&T, Comcast, etc.”, noting that its satellite Internet connection is very complementary to services they offer “.

“The Starlink system is best suited for well-distributed rural or semi-rural populations,” Shotwell said.

Meanwhile, Shotwell said SpaceX’s challenge is to learn to scale for consumer customers, while “ensuring that we can build a reliable network.” But, he added, none of these are challenges “that we cannot solve.”