HughesNet lost 200,000 satellite internet users last year to Starlink competition

Satellite internet provider HughesNet says it will lose about 224,000 subscribers in 2023, marking its third consecutive year in the red as SpaceX’s Starlink grows in popularity. This was announced at a financial results conference on Friday.

“Consumer business under the HughesNet brand has ended. [2023] “Satellite broadband subscribers total approximately 1 million, down approximately 224,000 from 2022,” EchoStar COO Paul Gaske said during the call. In contrast, as of December 2020, two months after Starlink’s launch, the business had 1.56 million customers.

(Credit: HughesNet data)

Starlink currently has more than 2.2 million subscribers, 1.3 million of whom are based in the United States.

Although Starlink was not directly mentioned in the earnings call, Gaske attributed HughesNet’s subscriber decline to “primarily our limited production capacity, competitive pressures, and a lack of profitable subscribers.” “This is due to more selective customer screening when focused.”

Gasquet said Hughesnet has gradually transitioned from consumer sales to commercial customers, including selling satellite Internet access for Delta Air Lines to power in-flight Wi-Fi. He added that “And in 2024, we expect our corporate revenues to exceed consumer revenues for the first time,” he added.

To compete with Starlink, the company launched a new Jupiter 3 satellite designed to deliver download speeds of up to 100Mbps. HughesNet said he began rolling out the upgraded speeds to subscribers in December and that “early feedback from customers has been very positive and will help reverse the subscriber decline trend in 2023.” Deaf,” Gasquet said.

Still, competition in the satellite Internet space continues to intensify. Later this year, SpaceX plans to launch a portable “mini” Starlink. Meanwhile, Amazon plans to beta test its satellite internet system, Project Kuiper, in late 2024.