Verizon says SpaceX needs up to 8 years and a half trillion dollars to compete in wireless
Verizon's CEO said he's assuming SpaceX will flawlessly execute its US ambitions, but those goals will require massive capital commitments.
Verizon's CEO, Dan Schulman, has cautioned that SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service faces significant technical and financial challenges to become a viable competitor in the US wireless market. Schulman expects that Starlink will need at least four to six years to construct a terrestrial network, which could cost up to half a trillion dollars.
He also mentioned that the company would need to build around 80,000 large cell towers on Earth and link them with satellites and fiber optics. Despite the potential, Schulman acknowledges that Starlink's service would not compete with established networks like Verizon in suburban and urban areas, where 98% of their revenues come from.
The satellite-based system is said to be 100 to 1000 times less efficient than terrestrial networks. This caution comes after Starlink acquired low-band mobile-friendly spectrum, causing a 10% drop in the share prices of major US mobile carriers, including Verizon.
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