I’m quoted today in an EdTech article “Satellite Broadband Brings Internet Connectivity to Remote Locations” that explores how low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems could potentially help connect the unconnected and close the digital divide. A key question I raised was … will these systems actually be *affordable* to the people that need them most. I think there is great potential, but also great challenges.
#InternetAccess #Starlink #LEOs #satellite #Internet #OneWeb
@danyork
If the costs of one earth station are split among many people, internet café style, or as done by local WISPs, there's every likelihood that it is affordable. Or if it's paid for by the state, like CFE-TEIT are doing. It's not really a problem.
The problem is probably going to be more in, as is alluded to in the article, the actual cost (in so many ways) of keeping these LEO systems running.
To me the bigger challenge in closing the so called digital divide, is actually making the digital relevant to the life of the "unconnected".
@keith Your first part is a key challenge. With regular ground-based #InternetAccess, it is very possible for nonprofits, universities, communities, and many other entities to start providing their own Internet access. That’s been so much of what has helped the Internet grow.
But with the enormous COST of launching LEO constellations, how does a nonprofit or a university (or consortia) do that? The EU’s IRIS2 might be one path if it happens, but what are others? It’s a challenge!
@keith I mean, don’t get me wrong… if there’s someone out there with, oh, a spare couple $100 million USD floating around that they would like to give to the Internet Society (or some collection of organizations) so we could launch a nonprofit LEO constellation for Internet access, that would be awesome! 🚀 But I don’t know that that’s going to be realistic. 😀
And so we are stuck with space-based Internet access looking like it will mostly come for large corps (or a few govt’s)
@danyork
Oh!, I see, you're actually talking about an entire LEO constellation and teleport(s), launched and maintained by somebody other than spaceX or the other usual suspects! Well.. I'd guess that's a nation state gig if it were not fully corporate. I kind of can't bring myself to be content with LEO, I don't have hard facts, just a bad gut feeling about it. So I'm happy for the corporates to do that for the moment, while one builds something autonomous.
