That’s what happened with Iridium in the 90s. By the time they launched, cellular coverage had greatly eaten into their market and they went bankrupt. (Having d

That’s what happened with Iridium in the 90s. By the time they launched, cellular coverage had greatly eaten into their market and they went bankrupt. (Having disposed of the enormous capital costs, they went on to become profitable and are doing quite well today.) A major difference is that Iridium service was (and still is) extremely expensive. Nobody used it unless it was the only choice. Out in the middle of the ocean? Iridium is great. At the end of a long country road with nothing but a POTS line that can barely accommodate a 14.4k modem? Use that modem, it’s way cheaper and faster. SpaceX hopes to provide pricing and speeds that are competitive with terrestrial options in many places. They’re not just trying to serve an ever-shrinking customer base that can’t get any connectivity otherwise.