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> The capital requirements are overwhelming in many cases for a traditional startups, leaving the only other option as local/municipal votes, which have been su

> The capital requirements are overwhelming in many cases for a traditional startups, leaving the only other option as local/municipal votes, which have been successful in some areas. I disagree. Especially today, capital is highly abundant and dirt cheap. The markets are starved for yield on any sort of fixed income product, especially when it's secured by tangible assets with predictable cash flows. Every day the market sees new successful covenant-lite bond and loan sales raised with payback periods measured in decades. The larger issue is that many municipalities explicitly enforce the local cable co's monopoly. This takes the form of exclusive "pole attachment" contracts. The local governments took kickbacks from the first broadband company that came along. For a quick payday upfront, they screwed their constituents out of any sort of competitive marketplace.

chorsestudios 6y ago
> I disagree. Especially today, capital is highly abundant and dirt cheap. The markets are starved for yield on any sort of fixed income product, especially when it's secured by tangible assets with predictable cash flows. I disagree here. Capital might be highly abundant and cheap in general but not necessarily in the ISP sector for startups. There are enormous costs associated with laying and maintaining fiber lines or building/launching internet satellites. SpaceX has an advantage by being able to launch their own satellites, it might not be profitable if they had to contract out all of their satellite deployments. I don't think investors will be eager to throw lots of capital at an ISP startup, especially after Google Fiber.
gwright 6y ago
The "last-mile" problem has been around for a long time and doesn't seem to be going away, although wireless solutions (including Starlink) is one way to bypass that problem.

chorsestudios 6y ago

> I disagree. Especially today, capital is highly abundant and dirt cheap. The markets are starved for yield on any sort of fixed income product, especially when it's secured by tangible assets with predictable cash flows. I disagree here. Capital might be highly abundant and cheap in general but not necessarily in the ISP sector for startups. There are enormous costs associated with laying and maintaining fiber lines or building/launching internet satellites. SpaceX has an advantage by being able to launch their own satellites, it might not be profitable if they had to contract out all of their satellite deployments. I don't think investors will be eager to throw lots of capital at an ISP startup, especially after Google Fiber.

gwright 6y ago

The "last-mile" problem has been around for a long time and doesn't seem to be going away, although wireless solutions (including Starlink) is one way to bypass that problem.