Japan’s SoftBank Invests $1B in Satellite Startup OneWeb

[sethbannon]

There are currently 4 billion people on earth with no access to the internet whatsoever [1]. If that's not a massive problem that also represents a massive business opportunity, I don't know what is.

1: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/4-billion-people-stil...

[wahern]

If they don't have internet access, they probably don't have much disposable income. Also, those 4 billion people are spread across diverse legal jurisdictions, not to mention diverse geographic, linguistic, and economic regions.

I agree it's a massive problem, and I don't doubt there are business opportunities. I just question how massive are those opportunities.

It's like shale oil--there's tons of it, but it's only profitable to extract under the right circumstances.

[kilroy123]

When I first read about OneWeb (2 years ago?) I figured it would be vaporware. However, things keep looking more and more promising.

I think these guys are finally going to open the door to having real mobile internet anywhere in the world.

[otoburb]

I believe SpaceX is also gunning for a similar satellite constellation for internet service[1]. The more serious players in this space, the better (no pun intended).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_satellite_constellation

[ChuckMcM]

1996[1] to 2016 which puts it 20 years before its time (maybe). Given solar cells and battery tech an airplane at 100K feet makes a lot more sense and seems to have much easier maintenance mechanisms (land the plane periodically).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic

[manarth]

  easier maintenance mechanisms

It might cost more to put into orbit than to put up in a plane, but once there, satellites don't tend to need maintenance.

[irq-1]

I suppose connection to this or the SpaceX satellite system will be the new short-wave radio -- borderless and uncontrollable by governments.

[candiodari]

Uncontrollable by governments ? Why ? Easy to disrupt the frequency and if you're following the law you need a frequency license in the first place. If you don't get one, they have a good reason to disrupt you even if that's the only thing you're doing wrong.