Starlink Mini promotional image.
SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.
SpaceX is launching a compact version of its Starlink antennas called “Mini,” which the company advertises as a mobile option for its satellite Internet customers.
“Starlink Mini is a compact, portable kit that fits easily into a backpack, designed to provide high-speed, low-latency Internet on the go,” according to an email to a customer sent by SpaceX on Wednesday and seen by CNBC.
The company is offering a “limited number” of Starlink Mini antennas for $599 each in an early access version. That's $100 more than the base model “Standard” antenna sold with its Residential service, although the company aims to lower that price.
“Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely inaccessible,” SpaceX wrote in the email.
Starlink Mini promotional image.
SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.
In addition to the initial hardware cost, service for a Starlink Mini effectively costs $150 per month, as SpaceX offers service for a Mini as an add-on $30 per month package on top of $120 per month residential service. The “Mini Roam” service “can be used anywhere in the United States,” but is limited to 50 gigabytes of data per month, and Starlink charges $1 per gigabyte for additional data.
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The Starlink Mini antenna is about the size and weight of a laptop, weighing just over 2 pounds and measuring approximately 12 inches by 10 inches by 1.5 inches. It is about half the size and one-third the weight of the standard Starlink antenna.
SpaceX's email says the Starlink Mini comes with a built-in WiFi router and “lower power consumption” than its other antennas, but still boasts download speeds of more than 100 megabits per second.
The email did not specify when Starlink Mini deliveries would begin. In a social media post, Starlink Engineering vice president Michael Nicolls said the company is “increasing production” of the Starlink Mini and that it will “soon be available in international markets.”
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a post on Monday that setting up a Starlink Mini took less than five minutes.
“This product will change the world,” Musk declared.
SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offering since launching the service in 2020. The company has around 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, which SpaceX says connect more than 3 million customers in 100 countries around the world. world. The company initially targeted consumer customers but expanded into other markets (including national security, enterprise, mobility, maritime and aviation) and disrupted the existing satellite communications sector.
