Starlink's US growth surges past 2 million active customers

SpaceX's satellite internet service, Starlink, now serving over 2 million active customers in the US, marks a significant uptick in its American user base.

The company announced that it has added over 600,000 customers in the United States in about a year, pointing to a successful push to accelerate growth that had appeared to be slowing.

This jump from 1.4 million US customers a year ago suggests that recent strategies to attract users are having an impact.

In a post celebrating the milestone, SpaceX highlighted the service's performance, stating, "In the United States alone, the median download speed across more than 2 million active Starlink customers during times of peak demand is nearly 200 Mbps as of July 2025."

 The company has not specified what it considers an "active customer" or if the count includes multiple users on single accounts. Globally, the satellite internet service now boasts over 6 million customers.

To boost its subscriber numbers in the US, SpaceX has rolled out several promotions. These include offers for free Starlink dishes for customers who agree to a 12-month service plan.

Additionally, the company introduced a more affordable "Residential Lite" plan in some areas, priced at $80 per month, a considerable discount from the standard $120 monthly fee.

Satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar noted the likely effect of these deals. "The US growth presumably reflects the low-priced Lite package and free terminals with a year's commitment," he said. This growth has continued even as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has faced public criticism.

While US numbers are climbing, Starlink's expansion may not be as rapid everywhere. The company reported that its customer base in Canada has reached over 500,000.

However, Farrar pointed out this represents an addition of only 100,000 customers over the past year. Elsewhere, subscriber growth has shown signs of slowing or even declining.

In Kenya, for example, Starlink saw its first quarterly drop in subscribers between December 2024 and March 2025. This trend mirrors a similar dip seen in Rwanda, suggesting potential growth limitations in some markets.

SpaceX has ambitious plans to upgrade its network, targeting the rollout of gigabit speeds next year. This leap in performance hinges on the company's third-generation Starlink satellites, known as V3. SpaceX aims to begin launching these more capable satellites in the first half of 2026.

"Each one of these new satellites is designed to provide over a terabit per second of downlink capacity (> 1,000 Gbps) and over 200 Gbps of uplink capacity to customers on the ground," the company announced.

The V3 satellites could make Starlink a direct competitor to ground-based fiber optic internet. In anticipation, SpaceX has already released a new $1,999 performance dish designed to handle these future gigabit speeds.

The deployment of the larger and heavier V3 satellites depends entirely on SpaceX's Starship rocket.

The massive vehicle is designed to carry dozens of these next-generation satellites into orbit at once.

However, the Starship program has faced significant setbacks. The rocket has yet to complete a full space mission successfully, as recent test flights have ended with the vehicle exploding.

These repeated failures cast uncertainty on the timeline for launching the V3 satellites and realizing the vision of a gigabit-speed Starlink network.