- Elon Musk claims that his constellation of internet satellites, Starlink, will need up to $30 billion in funding to survive.
- The company is losing money on its Starlink terminals, which allow users to receive the broadband that the satellites already in orbit are transmitting.
- “If we succeed in not going bankrupt, then that’ll be great, and we can move on from there,” the billionaire declared.
Isobel Asher Hamilton from Insider writes:
“Elon Musk’s constellation of internet satellites, Starlink, will need up to $30 billion in funding to survive, the billionaire said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress tech conference via video link, the SpaceX CEO said the projections for Starlink’s business costs were estimated between $20 billion and $30 billion, Reuters reported.
During the same conference, Musk said the company was losing money on its Starlink terminals, which allow users to receive the broadband that the satellites already in orbit are beaming down.
According to Musk, the terminals cost $1,000 to make and the company sells them for $500 — plus a $99 monthly subscription. The company will soon release a new model of its terminal which will be cheaper to make, he said.
Musk also said Starlink had signed partnerships with two “major country telcos,” but did not disclose their names. Musk tweeted last week that Starlink had 69,420 active users.
“If we succeed in not going bankrupt, then that’ll be great, and we can move on from there,” Musk said, per Reuters. Musk has said in the past that avoiding bankruptcy was the biggest challenge facing any high-speed internet satellite company…”
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Economic Left 
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