Starlink is a money cow, but having your competitor rely on you for the most expensive part of the job sounds like a great proposition for SpaceX.
For OneWeb, they just don't have other options anymore.
For OneWeb, they just don't have other options anymore.
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-responds-leaked-email-war...
I don't think satellite internet is promising even once the constellation is up there, but that's another matter.
P.S. The expression is "cash cow".
But sure, buy into Musk pretending it’s desperate to try to motivate his workforce. The SpaceX Steamroller continues apace.
It is currently a money pit. It is a simple fact that right now it requires huge expenses in launches, R&D, and subsidized terminals and makes practically no revenue. SpaceX has itself stated in internal communications that their current satellites and current launch systems are not viable.
I don't believe it ever will make any money—cellular networks do the same job better—but it definitely won't make any money in the next few years.
>But sure, buy into Musk pretending it’s desperate to try to motivate his workforce.
So it is your opinion that he was lying to his employees to coerce them into working overtime over the holidays out of fear of losing their jobs? I fail to see how that's an improvement. Either the situation is legitimately desperate or the work environment is abusive.
Yes, you’re commenting on the Musk email to motivate starship.
> I don't believe it ever will make any money—cellular networks do the same job better
No they don’t, because they don’t exist with good coverage in most of the geographic US. I live ~30 miles from a major city and my internet options are terrible cell backed plans that have gnarly data caps and poor throughput.
Your viewpoint is understandable but it’s completely out of touch with the reality of what exists today. I’m on the starlink waitlist and $100/mo for uncapped 50mbps in my location has absolutely no competition from the cell networks, terrestrial wireless, nor geo stationary providers.
> So it is your opinion that he was lying to his employees to coerce them into working overtime over the holidays out of fear of losing their jobs? I fail to see how that's an improvement. Either the situation is legitimately desperate or the work environment is abusive.
Yes, it’s likely the latter. Starship didn’t exist when starlink was started. The numbers didn’t change.
The whole of the UK is, after all, slightly smaller than Oregon.
You have it backwards. The U.S. is the outlier. All similarly wealthy countries have better coverage.
This isn’t a “fact.” “It” is the “satellite internet industry.” Viasat, just one such company, has billions in annual revenue and even manages to turn a profit. Starlink is far better positioned. Uses the industry-leading reusable launch vehicle workhorse which has a factor of 10 lower costs than traditional launch companies, with similar cost advantages for the satellite hardware.
Starship is a a factor of 10 or more better than that. Starlink is also entering the in-flight connectivity and the business/enterprise connectivity markets which are much higher margin.
Starlink already has 250,000 residential and business subscribers (worth around half a billion in annual revenue, including current prices, Starlink Business revenue, terminal sales, and special contracts), and they haven’t even filled out there first constellation yet. In 5-10 years, they will have millions of subscribers and billions in revenue. Potentially, tens of millions of subscribers and tens of billions in revenue, just like many other broadband internet providers.
If local ISP's can eke out a living on that sort of revenue stream, I don't see why a global satellite network and launch infrastructure can't.
/s