Starlink cannot beat tower-based networks in densely populated areas, says Elon Musk

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has said that Starlink, his global satellite-based internet service, cannot outperform traditional tower-based networks in densely populated cities because of simple physics.

Musk made this clear during an interview with Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, where he explained in detail how Starlink works and why it is better suited for rural and underserved regions rather than crowded urban areas. He stated, “The physics don’t allow for that”, Musk said, adding, “We can’t beat something that’s 1-kilometre away, which is the cell tower”.

Musk said that the main limitation is the distance between Starlink satellites and users on the ground. The satellites orbit the Earth at around 550 km in low Earth orbit and can come down only to about 350 km at best. Because of this distance, he explained, Starlink cannot match the efficiency of a cellular tower that is just 1 km away from users in a city.

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Elon Musk is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, the parent company that developed and operates the Starlink satellite internet constellation. Starlink is essentially a division or project within SpaceX.

He compared the satellite beam to a flashlight with a wide cone of light. Since each satellite beam covers a large area and serves a fixed number of users, it becomes difficult to handle heavy demand in crowded cities filled with high-rise buildings.

This makes tower-based systems far more effective in such locations. Musk said it is “not physically possible for Starlink to serve densely populated cities,” though it may be able to serve about 1 per cent or 2 per cent of users in such places, especially in small pockets where fibre connections are missing.

Despite this limitation, Musk noted that Starlink has major advantages worldwide. The network operates in 150 countries and consists of several thousand satellites moving at nearly 25 times the speed of sound.

Because they are in low Earth orbit, the latency is much lower compared to geostationary satellites placed at 36,000 km. The Starlink satellites are also connected through laser links that allow them to form a “laser mesh”. This helps maintain connectivity even if ground fibre cables are damaged. Musk gave the example of when the Red Sea cables were cut; Starlink “continued to function without a hitch.”

He emphasised that Starlink becomes especially valuable in disaster situations such as floods, fires, or earthquakes, where ground infrastructure is damaged. In such events, the company offers Starlink service for free. “We don’t want to put a pay wall up while somebody’s trying to get help”, Musk said.

Musk explained that Starlink is complementary to existing telecom companies. It works best in rural and remote areas where laying fibre cables or building high-bandwidth towers is difficult and expensive. In such places, Starlink can serve people who have poor or no internet access. (ANI)