The satellite internet division of SpaceX, Starlink, now boasts 70 000 users, but the firm’s chief executive officer, Elon Musk has loftier ambitions.

Speaking remotely at Mobile World Congress which is currently on the go in Barcelona, Spain the CEO said that Starlink could possibly have 500 000 users within the next 12 months.

“We’re I think on our way to having a few hundred thousand users, possibly over 500 000 users within 12 months,” Musk said.

Back in May CNBC reported that Starlink had received over 500 000 orders for the internet service but it should be noted that an order doesn’t mean a person will ultimately use Starlink or have coverage.

For instance, we can place an order for Starlink right now, but the service’s availability is “subject to regulatory approval” which may or may not be granted regardless of whether South Africa has coverage or not.

However, if Starlink were to partner with a telecommunications provider that already operates locally, it might be in with a shot. If that sounds like an impossibility, Musk said during his talk that Starlink already had partnerships like this in place.

“We have two quite significant partnerships with major country [telecommunications companies], that I’d like to be able to announce now but obviously we defer to our partners to make any announcement,” Musk said. “And we are in discussions with a number of other [telecommunications companies] to provide Starlink access.”

It’s unclear whether South African telcos are among those.

While the cost of launching satellites is high, Starlink also loses money on the terminals it sells to customers. According to CNBC, the hardware costs $1 300 but is sold to customers for just $499.

Starlink has launched some 1 500 satellites to date.