Satellites versus Towers
Will satellites compete with terrestrial mobile networks, or only fill their gaps?
Chapter summary
For the foreseeable future, satellites complement towers rather than replace them.
Key takeaways
- 1
Physics limits how much capacity a satellite beam can deliver per square kilometre (Chapter 6): a single next-generation satellite beam covering tens of kilometres may deliver tens to a few hundred megabits per second shared among everyone in it, whereas a single urban tower sector delivers hundreds of megabits to a few gigabits per second over a few hundred metres.
- 2
Satellites win where there are few people, no towers, or towers have failed.
- 3
The competitive threat is not to networks but to operators' customer relationships: a satellite provider owning spectrum could sell coverage-based plans directly to consumers in rural areas (Chapter 41).
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