Satellite Constellation Internet Affordability and Need

Large satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit seek to be the infrastructure for global broadband Internet and other telecommunication needs. We briefly review the impacts of satellite constellations on astronomy and show that the Internet service offered by these satellites will primarily target populations where it is unaffordable, not needed, or both. The harm done by tens to hundreds of thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites to astronomy, stargazers worldwide, and the environment is not acceptable.

This dataset shows that there is a small population that both needs and can afford satellite Internet service. The remainder either does not need or cannot afford it. For each country, we plot the estimated cost of satellite constellation Internet service as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita against percentage of individuals currently with Internet access. Affordable access is classed as <10% of GDP per capita; need is classed as <75% of the population currently having Internet access. Data and code to reproduce Figure 1 from the Research Note Satellite Constellation Internet Affordability and Need are at https://github.com/mrawls/sky-high-starlink