FCC Retracts 7 Million US Starlink Subscriber Figure

Oops: The Federal Communications Commission says it mistakenly claimed SpaceX's Starlink had reached over 7 million subscribers in the US. 

The FCC has officially issued an " erratum " to correct the number, which appeared in the Commission's Section 706 report examining broadband access in the US. 

The FCC originally published the report on Friday, saying on page 64: "Satellite service is also rapidly expanding. Starlink alone has launched over 2,300 satellites between mid-2024 and mid-2025 and has now deployed more than 7,800 satellites—a worldwide network already with over 7 million American subscribers."

The over 7 million figure stood out because it suggested that Starlink had somehow tripled its US customer base from more than 2 million in a span of a year. In contrast, SpaceX's own figures have only shown the global customer base doubling, from 7 million in August 2025 to now over 13 million+ consumer subscribers. 

We wondered if SpaceX may have shared some new information with the Commission, but it turns out the Section 706 report made an error. The FCC has since corrected the document to cite figures from SpaceX's recent Q2 earnings. The Commission's report now says: "Starlink alone has reported a total of over 10,200 on-orbit broadband and mobile satellites and has grown its global subscriber base from 6 million to 12 million between June 30, 2025 and June 30, 2026." 

The correction doesn't explain why the error was made in the first place. On Tuesday, an FCC spokesperson merely notified PCMag that the fix was issued.

Jianping Pan, a University of Victoria professor who studies satellite internet systems, strongly suspected the FCC made an error with the over 7 million figure. One reason is because his own tracking of Starlink using public IPv6 addresses suggests the satellite internet system has an estimated 4.7 million US users. 

In the original Section 706 report, the FCC also mistakenly claimed the 7 million figure while citing a July 2025 update on Starlink.com that mentioned serving over 6 million global customers. Hence, Pan told PCMag the Commission likely meant 7 million global subscribers, rather than American subscribers. 

"7 million was roughly the worldwide user base around middle 2025, they just mixed up the context," Pan told PCMag.

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