SpaceX to launch first 2 experimental Starlink broadband satellites - BI

Check the full post for more SpaceX Starlink analysis; also see Elon Musk's Broadband-From-Space Plan Clears Crucial U.S. Hurdle (Bloomberg)

""The common challenges associated with siting, digging trenches, laying fiber, and dealing with property rights are materially alleviated through a space-based broadband network," Patricia Cooper, SpaceX's vice president of satellite government affairs, said in written testimony to a Senate committee in May.

A global space-based internet network that's low-cost or provided for free to some regions could solve equal-access issues by bathing the whole planet in 1-gigabit-per-second internet.

The global average internet speed in late 2015, according to Akamai's "State of the Internet" report, was 5.6 megabits per second. That's about 1/170th the speed of SpaceX's target, with most of the higher speeds tied up in cable and fiber-optic connections."

SpaceX to launch first 2 experimental Starlink broadband satellites - BI