(Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images))
SpaceX is indicating Starlink has grown to more than 2 million customers in the US, up from over 1.4 million about a year ago.
The company revealed the figure on Tuesday in a post talking up SpaceX’s ongoing efforts to improve the satellite internet service. “In the United States alone, the median download speed across more than 2 million active Starlink customers during times of peak demand is nearly 200 Mbps as of July 2025,” the company wrote.
SpaceX didn’t clarify how it defines “active customers,” or whether the figure includes only paid subscribers or also multiple users sharing a single Starlink account. Still, the 2 million figure signals that the company's attempts to attract more users in the US have been paying off, following signs that growth had been lagging.
Almost a year ago, the company told the Federal Communications Commission that Starlink had “over 1.4 million customers” in the US — a minor increase from the 1.3 million figure the company reported earlier in December 2023.
To attract more users in the US, SpaceX has been offering various deals, including free Starlink dishes for eligible customers who commit to signing up for 12 months of service. In addition, the company debuted a cheaper “Residential Lite” plan for certain areas that costs $80 per month, down from the normal $120 per month Residential plan.
“The US growth presumably reflects the low priced Lite package and free terminals with a year's commitment,” said satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar.
The growth also occurs despite SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk, who has faced public backlash for his support of President Trump before they began to feud. But the sales momentum might not be translating everywhere. On Monday, the company also reported that Starlink’s customer base in Canada had grown to over 500,000, which Farrar pointed out is merely 100,000 more from a year ago. Globally, Starlink has over 6 million customers.
Faster Starlink Speeds Next Year?
(Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)In the same post, SpaceX revealed it’s betting it can start upgrading Starlink with gigabit speeds next year. To do so, the company is working on third-generation Starlink satellites, also known as V3
“SpaceX is targeting to begin launching its third-generation satellites in the first half of 2026,” the company announced. “Each one of these new satellites is designed to provide over a terabit per second of downlink capacity (> 1,000 Gbps) and over 200 Gbps of uplink capacity to customers on the ground.”
The V3 satellites promise to take SpaceX’s satellite internet service to the next level, potentially making Starlink competitive with ground-based fiber. Last month, the company even launched a new $1,999 performance dish that’s designed to offer gigabit speeds sometime next year once the V3 satellites begin entering service.
The only problem? To launch the heavier and more powerful V3 satellites, SpaceX needs to rely on the Starship rocket, which has been designed to carry dozens of them into orbit. But so far, the company’s Starship vehicle has yet to complete a full space mission. Instead, the rocket has been accidentally exploding on the launch pad and in the sky during its most recent tests.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had originally hoped on launching the V3 satellites sometime in 2024, but the technical issues with Starship have forced him to push back the timetable. Last month, Musk himself tweeted he expects Starship to begin carrying V3 satellites “in 6 to 9 months,” which should also help Starlink deliver latency at under 20 milliseconds.
Tuesday’s announcement from SpaceX added that “each Starlink launch of third-generation satellites on Starship is projected to add 60 Tbps of capacity to the network, more than 20 times the capacity added with each launch today.” This suggests Starship will be able to carry around 50 V3 satellites.
In the meantime, SpaceX has been using the Falcon 9 rocket to launch current generation V2 satellites to bolster the Starlink network. In the post, the company said it's deployed over 2,300 new Starlink satellites this past year, adding close to “450 Tbps of cumulative capacity."
(Starlink.com)Still, in some areas of the US, Starlink has been so popular that the network capacity has been stretched. In parts of the Pacific Northwest, the company has been imposing an exorbitant $1000 extra "demand surcharge" to discourage new users from signing up.