But it's new. These have lasers that create a new method of operating: they don't need to directly reach a ground station, they can send the data to another sat

But it's new. These have lasers that create a new method of operating: they don't need to directly reach a ground station, they can send the data to another satellite (or a chain) first... eventually enabling data to go around the world mostly in the vacuum of space (for speed gain).