Musk's Starlink Hopes for 500,000 Users Next Year

SpaceX's satellite internet network, Starlink, should have roughly 500,000 users within the next 12 months, said Elon Musk. 

SpaceX's current goal is to beam broadband internet to most of the planet by this August.

The internet network, in the midst of an open beta phase, has launched more than 1,700 satellites to low-Earth orbit since 2018 and recently surpassed a "strategically significant" benchmark of 69,420 active users. Musk said Starlink is already running in 12 countries and expanding. 

Reaching half a million users in the next year and unlocking global internet coverage  in the next two months is a wildly ambitious goal for Starlink. Nearly half of the Earth population doesn't have access to internet.

The internet service will be sold directly to consumers in the world's most rural areas and to governments looking for better military internet connections (among other customers). /msn