Re: Disposible like BIC or Gillette razors
"push Starlink further and further out into the wilderness where there are relatively few customers"
If you have adequate terrestrial service, you are NOT Starlink's target market
"High bandwidth to ships and aircraft is a good market but a cheaper satellite cluster could be more competitive on price"
Starlink is a mere balance sheet blip compared with the cost of operating a limited bandwidth Inmarsat terminal
The Killer App for starlink hasn't even been activated yet - linking Bourses (not just NY-UK/Paris, but also the Asian ones) can be done over the laser links at significantly lower latency than anything except shortwave radio (Yes, this is the lowest latency method at the moment, but it's extremely limited bandwidth, not secure and not reliable)
Stock Market arbitrage outfits pay BILLIONS per year just to have a dedicated fibre running on the shortest path London-Wall Street. Income from this sector has the potential to fund Starlink all by itself
In the meantime, Starlink is paying for itself in North American operations alone and it doesn't make sense to pass up revenue from providing services in the rest of the world, when the only investment required is a few more _very_ cheap ground terminals located at fibre nexus points
As for satellite numbers, it's not JUST about "bandwidth". Each satellite can only host a couple hundred simultaneous downlinks, which isn't enough in areas like Africa - several billion people in an area 6-8 times larger than the USA - or SE asia with its challenging terrain and very high maintenance costs