Starlink market share is limited, some argue. Others might argue it will always be so. Satellite networks are the lowest cost platform for isolated and very rural areas. But they are not the best value for customers able to buy cable TV, fiber to home or fixed wireless service.
“Because of the higher relative cost of bandwidth transmitted via satellite versus terrestrial technologies, satellite is currently primarily used in situations where fiber optic cables and other high-capacity technologies are not financially viable due to low population densities and large distances between high-capacity networks and last-mile networks,” the Asian Development Bank rightly notes.
source: Asian Development Bank
Low earth orbit satellite constellations such as Spacelink will allow satellite broadband provides to serve 3.5 million subscribers in 2021, growing at an eight-percent compound annual growth rate to reach 5.2 million users in 2026, according to ABI Research.
To keep that in perspective, in 2021 there are about 4.93 billion regular internet users, using 1.2 billion fixed connections and upwards of seven billion mobile internet subscriptions, supporting mobile phone users, PCs and internet of things devices.
The point is that, as important as LEO constellations might be, they will remain a niche supplier of internet access services. By 2026, says ABI Research, LEO service revenue might reach US$4.1 billion.
In 2020 fixed network internet access in the United States alone generated more than $100 billion in annual revenue in 2013, by some accounts.
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