← Back to context

Comment by mgfist

6 hours ago

I get what you're saying, but poor people want cheap internet/phone connectivity. They can't afford telescopes anyways.

And starlink (and the like) have more uses beyond good remote connectivity. They're a big reason why Ukraine didn't lose to Russia. They're also a potential avenue for people in oppressed nations to talk to the rest of the world (eg: Iran has a death penalty for starlink usage to counter this point).

> I get what you're saying, but poor people want cheap internet/phone connectivity.

Nope. Starlink is not a tool for poor people. It's first and foremost a tool for middle class living in rural area with poor connectivity.

As a comparison, it is estimated to that there is around 198M people in Nigeria with a Mobile phone connectivity. Compared around 67K Starlink users.

Mobile being around 2-3x cheaper than Starlink there (even without considering the hardware), it remains an upper middle class privilege.