Hueynet is preparing to send its customers to compete with Starlink after it reached an agreement to sell radio spectrum to its parent company, Extar, to SpaceX.
The referral program is mentioned in a 10-Q SEC filing that Heusnett released on Friday. The 66-page document includes a section about the Exstar SpaceX deal and what it means for Hueynet’s business.
Without the document, “the commercial agreements will also provide for a fee-based referral program that allows us to refer existing Whosenet customers and new StarLink customers to SpaceX.”
Extar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company’s leadership is signaling that it is preparing to move away from selling satellite Internet, citing competition from SpaceX’s StarLink. In an earnings call earlier this month, former Echostar CEO Hamid Akhon noted that Hueynet is moving toward “enterprise” customers instead.
“Fully realizing and understanding that consumer connectivity from satellite is highly competitive now given SpaceX’s offerings and perhaps other LEO offerings in the future such as (Amazon’s) Cooper,” he said.
Originally, Heusnet intended to compete with Starlink by revising its satellite Internet plans and launching a new Jupiter 3 satellite. But it was still bleeding customers. The 10-Q form said it had 783,000 broadband customers at the end of September, down from 912,000 a year earlier.
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The 10-Q form also warns that Hueynet is at risk of running out of cash, which was first noticed by a Space Intel report. “We do not currently have the necessary cash, projected future cash flows or financing to fund our obligations over the next twelve months, which raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern,” Heusnett says.
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The same filing notes that Extar “cannot provide additional liquidity” even after it completes a $17 billion radio spectrum deal with SpaceX, which requires approval from the FCC and the Department of Justice.
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About our expert
Michael Kahn
Senior reporter
Experience
I have been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite Internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware and more. I am currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s StarLink satellite Internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also regulatory battles over expansion of satellite constellations, battles with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and efforts to expand satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and reached out to remote corners of California to test StarLink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling its personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint Investigation Along with the motherboard
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. Now I’m following how President Trump’s tariffs will affect the industry. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump into the comments with feedback and send me pointers.
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