4 ms·

It would need to get a lot cheaper. $500 setup and $100 per month is not even close to something someone can afford in this regions and those few that can alrea

It would need to get a lot cheaper. $500 setup and $100 per month is not even close to something someone can afford in this regions and those few that can already have internet access.

dragontamer 5y ago
The actual dish costs like $2000 to $3000, and does not include the cost of rocket launches to get all of those satellites up there. The $100 per month doesn't seem like it'd be sufficient to keep ~6000 satellites in orbit either (they're orbiting so low, that they'll need to constantly "boost" themselves to stay in their orbit ring). So they're losing money per dish, and seemingly losing money per satellite launch, and I have my doubts that even 1-million customers at $100 / month or $1200 / year would be sufficient to keep their infrastructure costs (an ISP with only $1.2 Billion/year costs serving a million customers? Even without satellite launches, satellite development, that seems like a tall order. The ground-based infrastructure costs alone are already going to be costly... its not like bandwidth is free even if you're on the ground)
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  Presumably other satellites and space deliveries offset the cost per launch - and how many service years per satellite? How much are they paying their noc and customer service people, in addition to ground engineering and interconnects to ground stations? I'm guessing they've run the numbers and expect to make money.
  - sschueller 5y ago
    Hugesnet has 3 Satellites not 30k like starlink has planned.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    > I'm guessing they've run the numbers and expect to make money. No one really does that in today's economy. Most businesses these days aren't about achieving profits, but are instead about first achieving dominance... and then hoping you achieve profits afterwards. That's why we keep seeing companies like "Moviepass" pop up.

It would need to get a lot cheaper. $500 setup and $100 per month is not even close to something someone can afford in this regions and those few that can already have internet access.

dragontamer 5y ago

The actual dish costs like $2000 to $3000, and does not include the cost of rocket launches to get all of those satellites up there. The $100 per month doesn't seem like it'd be sufficient to keep ~6000 satellites in orbit either (they're orbiting so low, that they'll need to constantly "boost" themselves to stay in their orbit ring). So they're losing money per dish, and seemingly losing money per satellite launch, and I have my doubts that even 1-million customers at $100 / month or $1200 / year would be sufficient to keep their infrastructure costs (an ISP with only $1.2 Billion/year costs serving a million customers? Even without satellite launches, satellite development, that seems like a tall order. The ground-based infrastructure costs alone are already going to be costly... its not like bandwidth is free even if you're on the ground)

robbedpeter 5y ago
Presumably other satellites and space deliveries offset the cost per launch - and how many service years per satellite? How much are they paying their noc and customer service people, in addition to ground engineering and interconnects to ground stations? I'm guessing they've run the numbers and expect to make money.
- sschueller 5y ago
  Hugesnet has 3 Satellites not 30k like starlink has planned.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  > I'm guessing they've run the numbers and expect to make money. No one really does that in today's economy. Most businesses these days aren't about achieving profits, but are instead about first achieving dominance... and then hoping you achieve profits afterwards. That's why we keep seeing companies like "Moviepass" pop up.