Yesterday, the news came out that Amazon is planning to launch a constellation of low-earth satellites to provide broadband connectivity. There are a number of companies working on this including SpaceX’s Starlink and Facebook. Google is doing something with Loon – their balloon project.
The reasoning is to bring broadband internet to the underserved market. It is plausible and commendable, but I just don’t buy it.
I think these companies feel vulnerable since a small number of telecom companies sit in between them and their end-customer. This is a hedge.
If broadband connectivity works well for the underserved, it will work equally well for the rest of the world. Orbiting satellites do not discriminate.
Unfortunately, I could not find anything about speeds and capacity. I am curious what they’re targeting.
Artificial scarcity in the broadband market
Centralization of data is not conducive to innovation
Unbundling the internet and data ownership
The future battleground of internet access
5G