Starlink mini promotional image.
Customer email from SpaceX sent June 19, 2024.
SpaceX is launching a compact version of its Starlink antennas, which the company is promoting as a mobile option for its satellite internet customers.
“Starlink Mini is a compact, portable kit that easily fits in a backpack and is designed for high-speed, low-latency internet on the go,” said a customer email sent by SpaceX on Wednesday and seen by CNBC.
The company is offering a “limited number” of the Starlink Mini antennas for $599 each in an early access version. That’s $100 more than the base model “standard” antenna sold with its residential service, although the company is seeking a price cut.
“Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity is prohibitively expensive or not available at all,” SpaceX wrote in the email.
Starlink mini promotional image.
Customer email from SpaceX sent June 19, 2024.
In addition to the upfront hardware cost, the service for a Starlink Mini is effectively $150 per month – as SpaceX offers the service for a Mini as an additional $30 per month package on top of a $120 per month private service . The “Mini Roam” service “can be used anywhere in the United States” but has a cap of 50 gigabytes of data per month, with Starlink charging $1 per gigabyte for additional data.
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About the size and weight of a laptop, the Starlink Mini Antenna weighs just over two pounds and measures approximately 12 x 10 x 1.5 inches. It’s about half the size and a third as heavy as Starlink’s standard antenna.
SpaceX’s email says Starlink Mini has a built-in Wi-Fi router and “lower power consumption” than its other antennas, but still offers download speeds of over 100 megabits per second.
The email did not specify when Starlink Mini deliveries would begin. In a post on social media, Michael Nicolls, vice president of Starlink Engineering, said the company is “ramping up” production of Starlink Mini and that it will “be available in international markets soon.”
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a post on Monday that setting up a Starlink Mini took less than five minutes.
“This product will change the world,” Musk said.
SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offering since launching the service in 2020. According to the company, there are approximately 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, connecting more than 3 million customers in 100 countries. SpaceX initially targeted consumer customers but expanded into other markets – including national security, enterprise, mobility, maritime and aviation – and disrupted the existing satellite communications sector.
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2024-06-20 20:07:40
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