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Summary
- Elon Musk has reiterated his plans for Starlink IPO.
- The IPO is expected once the cash flow becomes predictable, Musk disclosed in a tweet.
- Starlink beta test has delivered promising results in the US and Europe with some users hitting much higher download speeds than claimed by the company.
Business tycoon Elon Musk had a blockbuster 2020. His company Tesla, the world's leading electric car maker, broke records when it entered S&P 500 last year. Early in 2021, Musk became the world's wealthiest person, overtaking Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos.
Keeping the strong momentum, Musk has recently made his intentions clear about an IPO of Starlink, the satellite internet service by his company SpaceX. However, he maintained that going public would be undertaken once the cash flow becomes predictable.
In a series of tweets, he added Starlink is a tremendously challenging technical and economic project; however, it is expected to improve users' cost every year if it becomes successful.
As per Elon Musk, the company needs to emerge out of the negative cash flow zone soon to be financially viable.
About SpaceX
Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 when he exited his previous company X.com, which is now known as PayPal, acquired by eBay. With that deal, Musk received his first billion which he invested in SpaceX venture. The company aims to offer affordable, low-latency internet globally this year.
Must read: Story of Elon Musk: A Dreamer's Journey to Becoming The World's Richest
The company commenced its beta test in October under the name Better Than Nothing Beta, which now has over 10K users globally. The service is priced at around USD 99 per month. However, one needs to pay an upfront cost of USD 499 to order the kit and cover the shipping charges. The kit comprises a dish or user terminal along with a Wi-Fi router to connect to the satellites.
The company has widened the scope of the beta test and has started accepting pre-orders from potential customers. The website makes it clear that the pre-orders are fully refundable but placing the order does not guarantee the service. It also mentions that the orders can take more than six months to be fulfilled.
The beta is right now available in parts of the US and Europe. By the mid of this year, it is expected to be available in New Zealand and Australia. The company says that the download speeds will range between 50 and 150 Mbps. Some users are reportedly hitting over 210 Mbps, which is quite a success for the beta test.
An Ambitious Venture
The company intends to deploy 4,425 satellites by 2024. The project aims to create an interconnected internet network with these satellites, aka constellation. Two years back, the Federal Communications Commission gave a green signal to launch 11,943 satellites.
This is not the first time Musk has talked about the IPO. In December last year, he had said that the IPO would come once revenue growth becomes predictable. Musk wants Starlink to achieve an annual revenue between USD 30 billion to USD 50 billion.
Must read: Starlink, The Next Disruption from Elon Musk's SpaceX Promises High Speed Internet Globally