Viasat's number of subscribers in the USA decreased by 6 times

Viasat subscriber numbers have fallen from 603,000 to nearly 100,000 in the US since 2020, when SpaceX launched Starlink to the masses. The loss continues every month.

Things are shifting in the space-based broadband internet sector. Viasat, the well-established satellite operator based in the United States, is experiencing an unprecedented loss of blood in the fixed internet market in the country. The telecommunications giant, which served more than 600 thousand registered users in the autumn of 2020, lost almost five-sixths of its subscriber base during the intervening period and fell to the 100 thousand band. This severe meltdown experienced by the company providing services with traditional satellite models clearly reveals that the competitive balance in the sector has entered a radical breaking phase.

Geostationary Giants' Blood Loss Continues Unabated

The latest published financial and operational data show that the disintegration on the Viasat front still cannot be stopped. The company, which lost 15 thousand more households in the third quarter fiscal period of 2026 alone, continues its trend of losing an average of 5 thousand customers on a monthly basis. The withdrawal experienced by the operator, which has different lines of activity such as satellite television and international corporate network operations, especially in the individual broadband sector in the USA, continues without losing momentum. The company, which transmits data with its giant ViaSat-3 satellites located in the high-altitude geostationary orbit (GEO) at a distance of approximately 35 thousand 786 kilometers from the Earth, has to struggle with long delay times due to its technological architecture.

Changing Market Dynamics in the Starlink Era

The timeline of this historic market contraction directly intersects with SpaceX's Starlink breakthrough. Starlink, which has launched an aggressive global deployment since 2020 with thousands of compact satellites positioned in low Earth orbit (LEO), has become the primary choice of consumers with its low latency and high speed advantages. While the classical infrastructure provided by high-altitude geosynchronous satellites has difficulty meeting the modern online expectations of internet users; New generation constellation projects such as Starlink are rapidly eroding the market share of traditional service providers. As a result, this dramatic decline experienced by Viasat is a sign of a new era in the satellite internet market, where the high altitude era has ended and low orbit technologies have established absolute dominance.