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The traditional justification for the government to own utilities is because they are a natural monopoly (e.g., the sewers), not because they are utilities. We

The traditional justification for the government to own utilities is because they are a natural monopoly (e.g., the sewers), not because they are utilities. We should celebrate when technological advances changing things that previously were natural monopolies into competitive markets, like satellite internet. At the very least, this has to be be better than the terribly regulated private monopolies we see in the stagnant, captive-audience-holding cable internet industry.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
It could be argued satellite internet is also a natural monopoly / duopoly. How many n-thousand satellite networks can there be? How many companies / countries can afford to launch n-thousand satellites?
- dmurray 7y ago
  Two this year, of which one is a very young and not particularly huge company. That suggests there's room for a couple more.
- jessriedel 7y ago
  There can be a lot. Given the immense volume above Earth, satellite collisions are only a worry because of the speeds that satellites travel and the current difficulty with coordinating them. As the technology for satellite coordination improves (tracking, low-propellent maneuvering, etc), the number of satellites that can fit will keep rising for a long time.
  - londons_explore 7y ago
    Geostationary orbit is a good example. There, every satellite is following the exact same orbit, but different positions around it. There are 500+ satellites on it. Now imagine how many possible orbits there are. If we could locate satellites accurately enough, we could give every 1 meter shell of altitude to another 500 satellites, giving us 2500000000 between earth and geostationary orbit.
    - jessriedel 7y ago
      The fact that there are only O(10^3) satellites in geostationary orbit is (I believe) mostly a limitation of ground antenna pointing accuracy than collision risk. There are many, many miles between each satellite along the arc.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

It could be argued satellite internet is also a natural monopoly / duopoly. How many n-thousand satellite networks can there be? How many companies / countries can afford to launch n-thousand satellites?

dmurray 7y ago
Two this year, of which one is a very young and not particularly huge company. That suggests there's room for a couple more.
jessriedel 7y ago
There can be a lot. Given the immense volume above Earth, satellite collisions are only a worry because of the speeds that satellites travel and the current difficulty with coordinating them. As the technology for satellite coordination improves (tracking, low-propellent maneuvering, etc), the number of satellites that can fit will keep rising for a long time.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  Geostationary orbit is a good example. There, every satellite is following the exact same orbit, but different positions around it. There are 500+ satellites on it. Now imagine how many possible orbits there are. If we could locate satellites accurately enough, we could give every 1 meter shell of altitude to another 500 satellites, giving us 2500000000 between earth and geostationary orbit.
  - jessriedel 7y ago
    The fact that there are only O(10^3) satellites in geostationary orbit is (I believe) mostly a limitation of ground antenna pointing accuracy than collision risk. There are many, many miles between each satellite along the arc.