Starlink to Double Maritime Download Speeds for $1,999 Kit

Business Maritime customers who paid $1,999 for Starlink's latest Performance kit and subscribe to the 50 GB tier at a minimum of $250 per month will see their download speeds double by the end of December, according to a note Starlink sent to its enterprise customers.

SpaceX had previously said Starlink would reach 1 gigabit per second download speeds by the end of 2026. The company now appears to be taking steps toward that target, with gigabit-class speeds being rolled out first to maritime enterprise users.

The note specifies that users on ships and recreational boats with the Performance Gen 3 terminal can soon achieve download speeds approaching 1 gigabit per second, though Starlink warned that monthly fees may rise alongside expanded bandwidth. The Performance dish's current specification sheet lists a download speed of 475 megabits per second and an upload speed of 75 megabits per second, numbers that are roughly the same as the standard kit priced at $349. Doubling the listed download rate would bring maritime connections close to the 1 Gbps range.

V3 satellites and wider rollout

Reports indicate onshore commercial customers could gain access to gigabit speeds in 2027, timed with deployment of SpaceX's V3 satellites. Starship mission 14 is expected to carry a batch of V3 satellites to orbit. According to those reports, V3 spacecraft, once their solar panels are deployed, are about the size of a Boeing 737 and can provide up to 10 times the data throughput of the current V2 satellites. Launching V3 requires the large Starship vehicle, which is still undergoing test flights.

Elon Musk has previously said a substantial increase in the number of V3 satellites will be necessary before Starlink can broadly enable 1 Gbps service.

Separately, Starlink appears set to rename its Local Priority and Global Priority plans to Business Plan and Global Business Plan, respectively, effective December 1, according to the same customer communication.