Isn't starlink and its competitors a cheaper way for rural places to get fast internet?
StarLink beats the hell out of the copper phone lines / DSL connections a bunch of these rural communities were running on before the fibre rollout, but it's no match for proper fibre. And assuming France has price controls like Spain, the fibre will be cheaper into the bargain
- The obvious political point: that ISP is subject to laws in a country that is testing its legal framework and diplomacy in new (some may say unpredictable) ways.
- The first rule of public funding is that the money goes back to the public. Roughly all (if not all) of the jobs for Starlink go to the US, whereas fiber installation in France employs French people.
- Paying for Starlink is a terrible investment because the entire constellation is disposable. Every satellite will burn up in roughly 5 years and the whole network would go dead without more launches. Fiber, once installed, is at least serviceable.
- Another political point, but the only company that can launch replacements economically is also subject to laws in that same country.
Starlink hands an awesome amount of semi-soft power to whatever country controls it. It doesn't really matter what country that is: it's a huge strategic liability to anyone who doesn't hold the keys. Until there's at least another player in the game I'd expect a lot of countries to be wary.
Ironically, that could mean Starlink/SpaceX really needs a competitor before it can become a universal solution.
Ultimately if you half-ass this you just end up doing it again later.
This is one reason I’m kind of baffled by spacex’s valuation; its long term market would seem to be countries who are too poor to build out fibre. It’s unclear that there’s a trillion dollar industry in that.
But if you are trying to get something that could last for decades and handle the expected growth in the speed and bandwidth that the average family might expect then fiber is the way to go.
You don't necessarily need to go right to every rural house at first. There are many places where fiber to a terrestrial wireless access point and wireless to the homes would work well.
Fiber can then be expanded out from those access points later.
I think that answers that.
If starlink does something you don't like good luck doing anything about it.