ELON: STARLINK IS A COMPLEMENT TO LANDLINES AND 5G

“I want to be clear, like it's not like Starlink is some huge threat to telcos.

I want to be super clear - it is not.

In fact, it will be helpful to telcos because Starlink will serve the hardest to serve customers that telcos otherwise have trouble doing with landlines or even with cell radio stations with cell towers.

5G is great for high-density situations like being here in D.C. or New York, San Francisco.

5G is great for high-density situations, but it's actually not great for the countryside.

For rural areas, 5G is not great.

So, Starlink will effectively serve the 3 or 4% of the hardest-to-reach customers for telcos, or people who simply have no connectivity right now or connectivity is really bad.

So, I think it will be actually helpful and take a significant load off the traditional telcos.”

Source: Satellite 2020 Conference, March 20, 2020