[algorithm314]

I think the US created Starlink for military use. It provides world wide coverage and very small latency that helps a lot with UAVs. UAVs that aren't in line of sight need satellite communication. They just allow the public to use part of it, so as to reduce the cost of the system.

[ncmncm]

The real big-ticket customers will be hedge funds getting trans- and intercontinental financial data a few ms ahead of competitors.

It would not be surprising if Starlink charged them 100x as much for each ms of latency boost. They would be paying not so much for the ms ahead of fiber as for their lower-paying competitors to get less ahead of fiber.

In fintech, they say "a microsecond is an aeon, a millisecond an eternity". You can do millions of computations in a ms.

[panick21_]

The US didn't create Starlink, SpaceX did and they did it without a government grant. They did what they thought would solve the issue of internet connectivity and make a lot of money with it.

Sure they will have many government including military, emergency services, coast guard, NASA and so on.

Starlink has many use-cases for the military they certainty didn't create it with that application as the primary goal. The primary goal is making money to fund SpaceX.