Single mode fiber optic cable has amazingly high bandwidth. It's hard to compete with that with a radio link. (Though I suppose lasers between satellites coul

Single mode fiber optic cable has amazingly high bandwidth. It's hard to compete with that with a radio link. (Though I suppose lasers between satellites could in theory be on par with what you can get from a fiber optic link. On the other hand, with fiber you can run bundles of dozens of strands or more, since the fiber is so cheap relative to the cost of everything else that goes into installing an undersea cable.) Relying on a single satellite vendor for telecommunications seems kind of sketchy, but then so is relying on a single cable. I suppose the good news here is that places that currently rely on a single source for their connectivity can use satellite as emergency backup, or use the availability of satellite connectivity as leverage when negotiating with telecoms.