StarLink is probably a failed financial model before it is even completed. They aren't the first-mover, either. HughesNet provides better service at a lower price, and they only have to keep 3 satellites operating at outer orbit.
StarLink is trying to reduce ping by flying thousands of satellites at low orbit. The problem? No matter what you do, the ping will be worse, and cost more money, than broadband.
The developing world will never be able to pay for StarLink at a price high enough to replace thousands of satellites every 5 years. SpaceX will depend on users from rich countries to pay exorbitant fees, and users in those countries already have access to cheaper, faster broadband.
So, it may be that StarLink will go the way of SolarCity and need to be bailed out by another Musk company.
> HughesNet provides better service at a lower price
You're either a troll or you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. As a former Hughesnet customer, now on Starlink I can tell you first hand that literal 56k dialup would have been better than Hughes on many days. Starlink on the other hand is basically indistinguishable from the cable internet I had when I lived in what might be called civilization.
Better service?!?! HugesNet geostationary satellite internet has 600-800ms ping, and maybe 20mbps down; it's barely usable. And it only works in lower latitudes.
Cheaper, faster broadband is only available if Comcast and the other loathsome telecoms can get their acts together, and they have been failing to do so for 30 years.
A constellation of 4,400 satellites, every 5 years, each costing $250k in parts and $50k in launch costs, totals to $264,000,000 per year of opex dedicated to keep the constellation in orbit. A poor country with about ten million subscribers would have to charge roughly $2/month to keep up with satellite replacement costs, but unlike terrestrial utilities, the satellites conveniently circle the whole globe.
StarLink is trying to reduce ping by flying thousands of satellites at low orbit. The problem? No matter what you do, the ping will be worse, and cost more money, than broadband.
The developing world will never be able to pay for StarLink at a price high enough to replace thousands of satellites every 5 years. SpaceX will depend on users from rich countries to pay exorbitant fees, and users in those countries already have access to cheaper, faster broadband.
So, it may be that StarLink will go the way of SolarCity and need to be bailed out by another Musk company.