[triceratops]

Genuinely curious about the math behind this. https://www.msci.com/indexes/index/754891 this index represents a decent chunk of the worldwide telecommunication industry. It's only worth $1.45T in total. They roll trucks and dig trenches to provide internet service - and provide other telecom services besides. My gut tells me that's cheaper than launching rockets. And these companies already provide service to most of the humans that have money.

I think SpaceX has done brilliantly in lowering the cost of rocket launches. I still don't understand or believe in the valuation.

[Schiendelman]

I think it's possible that one reason that industry is only worth $1.45T is that they have to maintain all that infrastructure. It may be significantly cheaper to operate it all as satellites.

[triceratops]

And you believe cables fail more regularly than satellites? Or that replacing them is more expensive? Any numbers for this?

[Schiendelman]

Interesting - what other than cables can you think of in a ground network?

[triceratops]

Everything else would also be needed in a satellite internet network.