Satellite Internet: Speeds at half mast on the Starlink side

Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service, has had a busy year. Now available on all continents, it is now also active in the field of maritime or leisure transport.


Still, the increase in the service's clientele has an impact on its performance. According to a new report from Ookla, a network intelligence company, Starlink speeds declined worldwide during the second quarter of 2022, in line with the increase in the number of users signing up for the service. Worse still, the speeds offered by Starlink services would have decreased in all the countries studied by Ookla, whether in Europe, Oceania, North America and South America.

Median Starlink download speeds have thus decreased in France, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, with a observed drop ranging from 9 to 54% between the second quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2022. In the United States, Starlink's median download speed reached just over 62 Mbps in the second quarter. Respectable speeds but far from the 90 Mb/s observed a year earlier.

Starlink's service has grown considerably thanks to its vast constellation of satellites. The company currently has more than 3,000 satellites in orbit and continues to expand it with near-weekly launches. As a reminder, the service now has 700,000 customers worldwide, for 6,500 subscribers in France (and 75,000 on the Old Continent), according to a recent figure carried out by the president of Starlink, Gwinne Shotwell.