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[-] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 hours ago

Who is going to pay the money for there to be a reasonable return on that value? I don't have Starlink, I have no need for it, since there's a cable coming into where I live. Sure there's people that live in remote places that it's useful for. But that's not a lot of people.

There are military applications, but Musk is a flake not military wants to be dependent on him. Every country in the world is spending a lot of money to end their dependence on the US defense industrial complex, so there will be alternatives for military purposes.

Maybe it can work in vehicles? But if the price is too high people will just use 5G or just go without access for a while.

Starlink is just a product to fill in some edge cases. It will probably make a steady profit, but there will be competition from Europe and China before too long.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

Who is going to pay the money for there to be a reasonable return on that value?

Government militaries, mostly. The Pentagon and it's NATO allies, militaries across the Pacific Rim, Ukraine, etc.

[-] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 2 points 17 hours ago

Yeah, so everyone is moving away from dependencies on the US. Not likely anyone will want their comms dependent on a system a US President (or Elon Musk) can shut down for leverage in a trade deal.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

everyone is moving away from dependencies on the US

Balance of Trade with the US has only grown year-over-year for the last decade, with the singular exception of 2023.

Everyone is not moving away from US dependencies, especially wrt to natural gas imports. European liberals are flirting with a degree of sovereign independence, while European conservatives are more and more aligned with MAGA tech billionaires. Latin American fascists are fully enthralled by the Rubio State Department as everyone from El Salvador to Costa Rica to Honduras to Peru race to build out the biggest network of Supermax Prisons for their northern neighbors to exploit. Out in the Pacific Rim, all the countries with American military bases are churning out pro-American politicians as fast as their mega-corporations can mint them. From South Korea to Japan to the Philippines to Australia, it's been a parade of Trump-friendly flunkies and ultra-nationalist goon squads. India's more aligned with America than it has ever been. The Middle Eastern states, from Egypt to Qatar to Turkiye, love Trump and can't stop sending him bribe money. The big African economies, from Nigeria to Cameroon to Ethiopia, have all been aligned with Trump since his first term (thanks largely to his friendliness with international petrochemical firms).

Not likely anyone will want their comms dependent on a system a US President

I wish that were true, but it simply is not. Multi-nationals and government militaries are all very eager to sign on with Musk, while their host countries debate the merits of investing in alternative programs. But, for the time being, Starlink is really the only game in town.

this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
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