Starlink is in the news this week after announcing that it would be doubling the rate for the global roaming subscription plan from $200 a month to $400.
While this was of real interest to all Starlink users, it appears that the rate increase is focused on users in parts of the world that don’t have regional subscription plans, such as most of Africa. There are several islands in the Caribbean that do not have regional plans, also, but mobile plans are working when there. These areas also have limited satellite coverage.
These users have to be on the global roaming plan and many users are either local government agencies or NGOs. The global roaming plan requires users to be in their “home” region every two months, which is impossible for such users. It appears that the rate increase is designed to eliminate this requirement and cover Starlink’s cost of service to non-regional plan areas.
Most cruisers are on the mobile regional or mobile priority plans, which cost $150 and $250 a month respectively. As of this week, Starlink has not announced increases to these plans.
As of last December, Starlink has surpassed one million subscribers and announced in April that the first quarter of 2024 showed a positive cash flow. They now have more than 4,000 satellites in low earth orbit and are adding more regularly.
Starlink is a subsidiary of Space X which is a private company controlled by Elon Musk. As a private company, business decisions are made in secret and thus users of the Starlink system do so at Musk’s whim. While that might sound precarious for those of us who rely on mobile internet to work from our boats, Musk is a businessman who relies on his customers’ and subscribers’ loyalty. At least, one hopes so.
