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Hughesnet Surrenders to Starlink, Prepares Referral Program
15 Nov
Summary
- Hughesnet to refer customers to rival Starlink after EchoStar-SpaceX deal
- Hughesnet warns of cash shortage, doubts about continuing as a going concern
- Hughesnet shifting focus to enterprise customers as consumer satellite internet faces stiff competition
As of November 15th, 2025, the satellite internet provider Hughesnet is facing a significant challenge in the face of growing competition from SpaceX's Starlink. According to a recent 10-Q stock exchange filing, Hughesnet's parent company EchoStar has reached a deal to sell radio spectrum to SpaceX, and as a result, Hughesnet is now preparing to refer its own customers to the rival Starlink service.
The referral program is mentioned in the 66-page filing, which also warns that Hughesnet currently does not have the necessary cash on hand or projected future cash flows to fund its obligations over the next twelve months, raising substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. This comes as Hughesnet has been bleeding subscribers, with the company reporting 783,000 broadband subscribers at the end of September, down from 912,000 a year ago.
Hughesnet's shift in strategy appears to be a response to the growing dominance of Starlink in the consumer satellite internet market. The company's former CEO, Hamid Akhavan, has noted that Hughesnet is now focusing more on "enterprise" customers, acknowledging the "highly competitive" nature of the consumer satellite internet landscape due to SpaceX's offerings and potentially other low-Earth orbit (LEO) providers like Amazon's Kuiper in the future.
