Musk says may need $30 billion to keep Starlink in orbit
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said on Tuesday that his Starlink satellite internet venture was growing quickly as he forecast total investment costs in the business at between $20 billion and $30 billion.
Without disclosing details, he also said Starlink has "two quite significant partnerships with major country telcos" that could help the SpaceX division plug gaps in fifth-generation mobile and cellular networks.
The Tesla Inc CEO and founder of SpaceX, a rocket ship venture that seeks to colonise Mars, said investment costs before Starlink achieves fully positive cash flow would be $5-$10 billion.
"It's a lot, basically," Musk said in a video interview from California with the Mobile World Congress, the telecoms industry's largest annual gathering, which is being held in Barcelona.
Starlink, an array of low-orbit satellites offering high-speed, low-latency connectivity, is already offering a trial service and aims to cover the world, except for the north and south poles, starting in August, Musk said.
It has more than 1,500 satellites aloft and is operating in about a dozen countries, adding more every month. Musk forecast total customer numbers would reach half a million over the next 12 months, from 69,000 now.
Some analysts question whether satellite internet can be a viable business model because it mainly targets remote areas, where there may not be enough people able to pay the high tariffs needed to recoup the investment costs.
Starlink would need a few million subscribers paying about $99 a month each to recoup a $5 billion investment in a year's time, said analyst Tim Farrar, president of TMF Associates.
A $30 billion investment over a decade would not require a dramatic rise in subscribers, but to achieve Musk's
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