4 ms·
We really, really need a competitor before we end up with the “one world internet” type situation, at least in the developing world.
by bamboozled 2y ago
We really, really need a competitor before we end up with the “one world internet” type situation, at least in the developing world.
- threeseed 2y agoThe competitor is domestic fibre and every country is rolling it out, albeit slowly. Starlink will increasingly just be a product for rural and niche use cases.
- vermilingua 2y ago“Increasingly” doing a lot of heavy lifting there, fiber rollouts are slow and complex and still lend to the kind of semi-natural monopoly that’s caused massive ISP price gouging in western urban areas. I agree that fibre ultimately dominates the last-mile market, but Starlink et al. are still needed to keep last-mile providers to account.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y agoAnd the niche will get smaller. I live in a rural area, and while we had to wait a few years, they finally pulled fiber to the houses around here.
- lxgr 2y agoOn the other hand, "but Starlink is available there" seems like a very quick way to stop most government incentives and subsidies to get fiber rolled out anywhere.
- 15155 2y agoAfrica is decades away from continent-wide fiber optic internet outside of a handful of highly-developed metros.
- verzali 2y agoThe Chinese providers will soon offer real competition over Africa and South America at least.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- m463 2y agoI think it's doing fine as a catalyst. It can't be the internet for everyone, it can't work in high-density areas.