- SpaceX is adding new satellites to increase its broadband capacity
- Simultaneously, it's adding a regular cadence of new broadband subscribers around the world
- Terrestrial broadband operators continue to watch Starlink closely as it garners new customers in both rural and urban areas
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service is gaining new customers at a steady clip. On this week’s Q3 earnings call with investors, SpaceX reported that it now reaches 13.6 million global broadband consumer subscribers in 174 markets, including new market launches in Vietnam and Uganda. This compares to 10.3 million Starlink broadband subscribers across 164 countries as of June 1, 2026. The company added 1.6 million Starlink subscribers in Q3 alone, driven by growth in more developed markets.
SpaceX plans to keep adding capacity to its Starlink fleet of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites, via its new V3 constellation.
On the Q3 earnings call, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said, “We are in an inflection moment for SpaceX across launch connectivity. Starship Flight 14 was a critical milestone. Starship made it to orbit for the first time and deployed operational Starlink V3 satellites.”
He said Flight 14 deployed 26 terabits per second of Starlink bandwidth, the equivalent to 10 Falcon 9 launches. “So, a single Starship launch, which wasn't even fully loaded. It was about maybe half loaded, and it did the equivalent of 10 Falcon 9 launches. What I expect over time is, not in the distant future, probably within three years, is that we will have about 100x the bandwidth of the current Starlink constellation,” said Musk.
Ultimately, SpaceX wants about 100,000 LEO satellites in orbit to service Starlink broadband.
Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX, said that over the third quarter, Starlink's rapid response capabilities enabled support across 25 crises, including the Venezuela earthquake, the earthquake in Western Colombia and Hurricane Lowell in Hawaii. In Venezuela, Starlink donated over 1,400 kits to response agencies, providing Starlink broadband connectivity to over 250,000 people.
Starlink is also seeing growth on the enterprise and government side. It’s signed agreements with three of the four major U.S. airlines, along with a growing list of international airlines. During the quarter, Lufthansa, Swiss, Copa Airlines, Korean Air, Austrian Airlines and Asiana Airlines all flew their first Starlink-equipped aircraft. It’s now contracted for roughly 12,000 airplanes.
On the financial side, Starlink consumer monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) increased 5% sequentially to $69 per month during the quarter.
Sizing up the competition
Terrestrial broadband operators continue to watch Starlink closely as it garners new customers in both rural and urban areas.
This morning, Comcast President Mike Cavanaugh said during the company’s Q3 2026 earnings call, “While satellite is not yet a material factor, we recognize the importance of anticipating emerging forms of competition and positioning our business to respond as the market evolves.”
An analyst asked if Comcast would ever consider doing a wholesale partnership with a satellite player, leveraging its CBRS spectrum and Wi Fi, or whether that would be too great of a risk to enable a potentially disruptive competitor.
Comcast’s CFO Jason Armstrong said, “We do partner with Starlink today. In Comcast Business, we combine our managed connectivity portfolio with their satellite capabilities for enterprise customers. As we’ve always shown, we’re open to strategic discussions and partnerships that make sense for us.”
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