SpaceX Receives 500 Thousand Pre-orders For Starlink Internet Services

JAKARTA - SpaceX has received more than 500 thousand pre-orders for Starlink satellite internet services. Even the number of subscribers of Starlink internet services is predicted to still increase.

"The only limitation is the high user density in urban areas. In all likelihood, all the initial 500 thousand will receive the service. More challenges as we tap into the few million users," tweeted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

This he made in response to a post from a CNBC reporter saying the $ 99 deposit that SpaceX took for the service was fully refundable and did not guarantee service.

SpaceX has yet to set a launch date for the Starlink service, but the commercial service is unlikely to be offered in 2020 as previously planned.

The company plans to later deploy a total of 12,000 satellites and says the Starlink constellation will cost around $ 10 billion.

Building and sending rockets into space is a capital-intensive business, but two of the richest men in the world, Amazon co-founders Jeff Bezos and Musk, who are also chief car manufacturers Tesla Inc, have invested billions of dollars over the years to make inroads in this market.

Musk and Bezos themselves have debated openly over the orbital land of telecommunications satellites. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has also asked SpaceX to deploy its Starlink satellites in lower earth orbit, as a safety requirement.