Starlink is SpaceX’s cash machine, but the maths is getting harder
SpaceX’s satellite internet service had 10.3 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2026, more than double the 4.4 million it reported a year earlier. That growth rate is extraordinary by any standard in telecommunications, let alone for a business that delivers broadband from orbit.
But the S-1 prospectus SpaceX filed ahead of what would be the largest IPO in history reveals a less comfortable trend underneath the headline numbers. Average revenue per user fell to $66 per month in Q1 2026, down from $86 a year earlier and from $99 in 2023.
The ARPU problem
The decline is not accidental. Starlink has been expanding aggressively into price-sensitive markets across Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America, where monthly subscriptions are set well below US rates to match local purchasing power.
The strategy has delivered volume. But it has also meant that even as the subscriber base more...
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