Image: Starlink
Starlink’s growth story in 2025 has been nothing short of remarkable. SpaceX’s satellite internet service has effectively doubled its global subscriber base over the past year, underscoring surging demand for high-speed connectivity in regions where traditional broadband continues to fall short.
At the end of 2024, Starlink reported roughly 4.6 million users worldwide. Fast forward to last week, and the service officially crossed 9 million subscribers, meaning it has nearly doubled its user base in under 12 months. With more than a week still left in the year since then, there’s a strong chance Starlink may surpass that milestone by year’s end, especially given the pace of recent growth.
The trajectory has been steady throughout 2025. Starlink surpassed 8 million users worldwide last month, expanding availability to more than 150 countries as SpaceX continues to aggressively deploy new satellites. That expansion has gone hand in hand with usage, as Starlink’s global web traffic exploded in 2025, more than doubling over the course of the year and signaling heavier reliance on the service for everyday connectivity.
Infrastructure growth is playing a major role here. Starlink now operates more than 9,000 active satellites in orbit, with the constellation on track to surpass 10,000 satellites by early 2026. Looking ahead, SpaceX is preparing to begin launches of its next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, which are significantly larger and designed to dramatically increase network capacity. While Starlink already offers download speeds of up to 450 Mbps, the company has said these new satellites will enable gigabit-class connectivity — a major leap from today’s performance.
Suppliers are already gearing up for that next phase. Starlink’s chip and hardware partners have hinted at major expansion plans as SpaceX prepares to deploy V3 satellites aboard its next-generation Starship rocket, with Elon Musk even floating ambitious ideas like AI data centers in space.
If the current pace holds, industry watchers like @SawyerMerritt estimate Starlink could reach 10 million subscribers by early 2026. For now, we’ll have to wait and see whether SpaceX releases an official year-end figure once 2025 wraps up, as it did last year, to find out if the service truly doubled its user base this year. Either way, Starlink’s momentum shows no signs of slowing.
