NTN economics: ARPU, capacity cost, spectrum licensing, launch costs

The Economics of Space-Based Connectivity

Building and operating a satellite constellation involves fundamentally different economics than terrestrial mobile networks. Capital expenditure is heavily front-loaded — designing, manufacturing, and launching hundreds of satellites requires billions of dollars before the first subscriber connects. A single Falcon 9 launch carrying Starlink satellites costs approximately 30 million dollars, and a full constellation may require over 100 launches. Satellite manufacturing costs have plummeted with mass production, from hundreds of millions per satellite for traditional GEO birds to under one…