Charter CEO thinks satellite has an edge in rural areas

Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite is poised to play a bigger role in the broadband landscape come 2025, and Charter seems to be all for it. Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said although satellite broadband is even more “capacity constrained” than fixed wireless access, he acknowledged it could provide “decent service” in rural areas. Deploying satellite broadband makes sense if there’s not much financial incentive for operators like Charter to come into those markets. Charter is currently building at around “10 homes per mile” in its subsidized rural footprint, said Winfrey. If it wanted to deploy broadband in areas with even fewer homes per mile, that would be “very difficult” because of the high cost per passing and operating costs in such remote locations. “Pole rent, property tax, all the stuff that adds in; so those areas probably are better served by low-earth orbit satellite,” he said.