Yeah and there's already a lot of providers of satellite internet. But, Starlink has not published their pricing, so it's unclear how much of the market will they capture.
I don't see the existing constellations remaining competitive for long.
Interesting, how do you know that?
That said, I know almost nothing about phased arrays, so I don't know if it's expensive due to some fundamental reason, or if it's partly because it's been a niche/low volume device before now.
- Number of satellites launched at once
- Stated bandwidth numbers of satellites
- Lack of concern over intentionally deorbitting satellites for testing and sending experimental prototypes to space with an apparently expected not negligible failure rate.
- Stated cost of the phased array groundstations (in the hundreds)