Who is Starlink really for?

Starlink hopes to bring high-speed satellite internet to many of the 3.7 billion people on this planet who currently have no internet connection at all. SpaceX’s internet service, which uses a growing fleet of 1,600 satellites orbiting Earth to deliver internet access to people on the surface, reported close to 90,000 users in July 2021. Underdeveloped parts of the world might find Starlink to be a boon, since many of these places do not have physical networks like the cable system. The company has stated that its technology would be particularly beneficial for rural areas as well; however, for many customers the service is still much more expensive than current options available to them, and it is unclear how reliable the constellation of satellites will be for a large-scale subscriber network. Starlink must get costs down fast in order to expand its customer base, but it must also make enough money to continue launching hundreds or even thousands of satellites every year. It’s a delicate needle that could be impossible to thread.