[konschubert]

Arbitrage between multiple exchanges requires data to go from exchange A to exchange B as fast as possible.

Light in vacuum is faster than light in fiber.

[raducu]

Light in vacuum is only faster if it goes in a straight line from point A to B, not if it zig-zags across 50 satellites.

[emteycz]

How could zigzagging through fiber be faster thaz zigzagging through vacuum? You still need to cross nearly the same distance with fiber.

[raducu]

The fiber is a fixed geometry.

The satellite mesh is not, a straight line from point A to point B is not possible most of the time, given the number of satellites available and range of laser communication in space.

[iso1210]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEIUdMiColU is an animation of how it's supposed to work, including latencies

There are enough satelites and low enough routing on the lasers to mean packets will arrive from London to NY faster than even a great-circle fibre.

In reality how much bandwidth is available is a function of money, and HFTs tend to have a lot of money.