Starlink "making 100,000 dishes per month”

Dr. Tim Farrar, the president of TMF Associates, has announced that while geo-satellites may be sturdy, Starlink is triumphing over the competition in terms of broadband connectivity. He has revealed that the company is producing as many as 100,000 dishes every month.

At the Silicon Valley Space Week's 2023 Milsat Symposium, Farrar gave a speech where he observed the similarities and differences in the position of geostationary satellite operators such as Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat, and Viasat.

He discussed how they provide broadband to businesses and the expenses that come with it, such as the receiving and transmitting antennas. He stated that Viasat used to offer 15 Petabytes per month, but now SpaceX/Starlink offers 500PB per month. He mentioned that Starlink currently handles the largest amount of satellite data traffic worldwide.

He said that there are two groups of Geo operators: those working with Starlink or OneWeb (in the case of Intelsat), and those collaborating with SES and Intelsat. He also mentioned the recent merger between Eutelsat and OneWeb and pointed out that Eutelsat and Telesat are creating LEO systems designed for business use so they can compete with Starlink. He expressed doubt about their chances of success, saying "We'll see if that works out for them."

According to Farrar, most commercial users don't need to purchase specialized terminals that can operate in different orbits. Some dish vendors might only sell a limited number of these types of terminals, while Starlink is producing a whopping 100,000 dishes each month.

According to Farrar, GEO is becoming similar to L-band in the past decade or so. It will serve as the reliable backup option that will always be available without fail, but it will be pricey and less flexible compared to what LEO can accomplish.

In September, Starlink stated that they had over 2 million people subscribed. Farrar estimates that there are about 100,000 dishes installed, meaning that Starlink could have around 2.5 million people using their service by the end of the year. However, it's important to note that Farrar's estimation has not been verified by Starlink.