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Not an incoming monopoly, except maybe in a temporary sense for some remote areas. Ground-based internet continues to exist, and is getting better. OneWeb has o

Not an incoming monopoly, except maybe in a temporary sense for some remote areas. Ground-based internet continues to exist, and is getting better. OneWeb has over 600 satellites in orbit right now, with paying customers. Amazon's Kuiper constellation is planned to have over 3000 satellites; they've got regulatory approval and launch contracts signed, and their pockets are deep. Once those come online properly, it'll be hard for Starlink to charge anything like proper monopoly rents.

nordsieck 3y ago
> OneWeb has over 600 satellites in orbit right now, with paying customers. OneWeb is B2B only. I assume, but don't know that it's because they can't get the cost of their user terminals low enough. > Amazon's Kuiper constellation is planned to have over 3000 satellites; they've got regulatory approval and launch contracts signed, and their pockets are deep. Once those come online properly, it'll be hard for Starlink to charge anything like proper monopoly rents. It'll certainly be interesting to see how that goes. They went with the "hire everyone but SpaceX" launch strategy, which means that none of the rockets they've signed with are operational yet. And they have a looming FCC/ITU deadline. There's widespread belief that if they make a good effort, they can get a variance, but it's certainly not guaranteed. In general, I agree with you, though. There's not much evidence that SpaceX is trying to squeeze customers. In part because there are often plenty of competing options, and in part because Elons companies tend to keep prices low even when they do have a defacto monopoly (like right now with space launch).
- dotnet00 3y ago
  I think recently they've started talks with SpaceX to launch with them too, buying 3 launches from them for now, since they got sued by an investor for choosing the more expensive launch options.

nordsieck 3y ago

> OneWeb has over 600 satellites in orbit right now, with paying customers. OneWeb is B2B only. I assume, but don't know that it's because they can't get the cost of their user terminals low enough. > Amazon's Kuiper constellation is planned to have over 3000 satellites; they've got regulatory approval and launch contracts signed, and their pockets are deep. Once those come online properly, it'll be hard for Starlink to charge anything like proper monopoly rents. It'll certainly be interesting to see how that goes. They went with the "hire everyone but SpaceX" launch strategy, which means that none of the rockets they've signed with are operational yet. And they have a looming FCC/ITU deadline. There's widespread belief that if they make a good effort, they can get a variance, but it's certainly not guaranteed. In general, I agree with you, though. There's not much evidence that SpaceX is trying to squeeze customers. In part because there are often plenty of competing options, and in part because Elons companies tend to keep prices low even when they do have a defacto monopoly (like right now with space launch).

dotnet00 3y ago
I think recently they've started talks with SpaceX to launch with them too, buying 3 launches from them for now, since they got sued by an investor for choosing the more expensive launch options.