What makes satellite broadband different from earlier efforts is the mass-production of satellites and the reduced cost of rocket launches that carry those miniature cell towers a couple of hundred miles above the earth. The scale is massive, as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, by itself, is planning a constellation of approximately 12,000, and as many as 42,000, LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites (in addition to the three or other entities aiming to compete in this market).

Granted, there are concerns about things like light pollution and space debris, which are being addressed by the operators in various ways (the effectiveness of mitigation remains to be seen, literally, in the case of light pollution). Regardless, satellites are launching on a regular basis and Mazumder expects that service will launch from at one least one operator by the end of this year.

From a service standpoint, the Starlink constellation, once fully deployed, can provide 10Gbps of bandwidth in a cell size of 20 square miles, which can be plenty for rural areas. Because these are LEOS (Low Earth Orbit Satellites) the latency is projected to be in the 25-millisecond range, which easily allows for voice communications.

In the short-term, the limiting factor may be the cost of the earth terminals, which today are estimated to cost between $2,000 to $5,000. The interview with Mazumder inspired thoughts on how Elon Musk may have a master plan to integrate Tesla’s vehicles to create mobile 5G cell towers, effectively baking in the price of the radios into the car.

It might even go further with the introduction of another dimension of relay towers integrated into flying taxis. See more on this idea at

https://viodi.com/2020/05/13/a-multi-dimensional-broadband-network-or-is-this-just-pie-in-the-sky/

Finally, Mazumer speaks about fixed and mobile wireless as both a threat, but as an opportunity for operators to create wireless moats around their respective fiber castles.