Elon Musk Predicts Starlink Satellites Could Rewrite the Rules of Global Connectivity
Elon Musk just set a bandwidth target for Starlink's next satellite generation that would make today's network look primitive, and he put a deadline on when it rewrites global internet infrastructure.
On the August 4, 2026 earnings call, SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) chief executive Elon Musk predicted Starlink could carry the bulk of global internet traffic within 10 years, driven by a next-generation satellite that multiplies delivered bandwidth dramatically.
This morning, in a post on X, he expanded on just how big that could be:
“Connectivity per sat will be more like 10Tb in both directions and there is a path to 100+Tb. Each sat is 250kW and will have a SpaceX-designed Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 computer.”
An Orders of Magnitude Bandwidth Claim
In the conference call, Musk framed Starlink V3 as a step change. “The Starlink V3 satellite is about an order of magnitude more capable than the Starlink V2 satellite, which is already a very capable satellite,” he said. SpaceX expects “to launch about an order of magnitude more Starlink V3 satellites. That would mean a roughly two order of magnitude increase in the delivered bandwidth.”
The revenue implication: “Even if our monetization per bit drops by a factor of 10, that would still mean a 10x increase in the revenue of Starlink.” Each Gen3 satellite targets roughly 10 terabits per second bidirectional, with a path to more than 100 Tbps, with an FCC filing covering up to 100,000 Gen3 satellites accepted for filing in mid-September 2026 but not yet approved.
Majority of the World’s Internet, Under 10 Years
Asked how big Starlink could get, Musk went further than in prior calls. “It’s not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world’s internet. At least in countries where we’re allowed to operate, which is the vast majority of countries,” he said. “And it’s not in the infinity future. It’s less than 10 years.”
He tied the demand side to machine traffic: “With the advent of AI and humanoid robotics and vehicle robotics and just a massive number of robots, the app type of bandwidth will be much greater than it has been in the past.”
Numbers Behind the Talk
The Q2 2026 financials give the vision some grounding. Total revenue reached $7.81 billion, up 92% year over year, with the connectivity segment contributing $4.3 billion, up 66% year over year. Starlink added more than 1.7 million net consumer subscribers, its best quarter ever, while ARPU held at $66 per month. Enterprise and government revenue grew 108% year over year, boosted by new deals with American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Southwest (NYSE:LUV), Virgin Atlantic, Iberia, and Aer Lingus and over $6 billion in multi-year Space Force Starshield contracts.
Musk credited execution: “In order to secure a large amount of enterprise revenue, you have to demonstrate a very high reliability, very high uptime. And in the early days, Starlink did not have high uptime.” President Gwynne Shotwell noted Starlink “has never lost an enterprise customer.”
What to Watch
Management said a critical mass of about 1,000 V3 satellites is needed before service improvements become significant, expected by approximately the second quarter of next year. Musk told analysts, “A year from now, we will be doing at least one flight a day and possibly more.” SPCX shares closed at $152.71 on September 18, up 9.35% over the past month.
If achieved, 10 Tbps (and especially a path to 100+ Tbps) per satellite would transform Starlink from a high-capacity broadband network into something capable of carrying a meaningful fraction of global internet traffic and supporting next-generation AI and industrial applications from orbit. It is one of the most aggressive capacity targets publicly stated for any satellite system.
Still, this remains a forward-looking claim. The FCC application for the large Gen3 constellation is still under review, and actual on-orbit performance, spectrum access, ground infrastructure, and Starship launch cadence will determine how much of the 10 Tbps (or 100 Tbps) vision is realized. Earlier V3 numbers were closer to 1 Tbps downlink; the jump to 10 Tbps bidirectional is ambitious.
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After two decades of patrolling the dark corners of suburbia as a police officer, Rich Duprey hung up his badge and gun to begin writing full time about stocks and investing. For the past 20 years, he’s been cruising the markets looking for companies to lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio while writing extensively on the broad sectors of consumer goods, technology, and industrials. Because his experience isn’t from the typical financial analyst track, Rich is able to break down complex topics into understandable and useful action points for the average investor. His writings have appeared on The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, Yahoo! Finance, Money Morning, and, of course, 24/7 Wall St. He has been featured in both U.S. and international publications, including MarketWatch, Financial Times, Forbes, Fast Company, and USA Today.
