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by BlueTemplar 1898 days ago
Aren't they still heavily expected to feature in connecting that "next billion" ?
1 comments

Yes, because they are convenient for other reasons (don't require infrastructure over land) which makes them suitable for connecting rural areas where it doesn't make sense to run fiber. But fiber will always be the fastest you can get, and if you get fiber in a vacuum, you could theoretically achieve near-speed of light communication. Satellites won't get you anywhere close to that, even if you use lasers, because there is always atmospheric disturbances that introduce latency.