Everyone with at least a little bit more logic knows that there is no hope for satellite internet connectivity.
It's expensive......
I think you have a very UK centric view of the internet market. The UK broadband market, while not at the cutting edge of technology, is amongst the cheapest places to get online. As pointed out, in the USA it's not uncommon to pay $50+/mo for ADSL with data caps so $89/mo for unlimited at 150/50 represents a significant improvement for many for a moderate price increase.
It's not really that slow is it? 150/50 is twice as fast as standard FTTC VDSL. Last report I looked at had only 22 countries in the world where >10% of homes had access to a full fibre product. That leaves some significant market share to still be able to penetrate with one's slow satellite system.
20ms latency from LEO systems is more than adequate for anyone other than elite gamers I would think so I don't think latency is a problem for the majority of users.
has more disadvantages than any meaningful advantages
Here's the killer advantage - to be able to receive it you only need electricity and to be able to see the sky (plus the money to pay for it I guess!). In densely populated 'small' countries with large proportions of urban dwelling and high concentrations of cellphone towers I'd agree it may have less relevance so it might not become the dominant service provider in the UK, Japan, Singapore etc. but for vast countries and continents it'll be a game changer if it works.
It's going to go bankrupt.
Maybe Musk will go bust but Amazon are getting in the game and even the UK Government & Richard Branson (OneWeb). Certainly if I had to place a bet on who is going to get me gigabit broadband here in the countryside first, OpenReach, some 5G cell tower or Musk, I'd stick a fiver on Musk!
You can't invest billions and billions with a target distant areas - villages and the like. How many people are there and how many who are there will be spending on Starlink?!
How many people might be in this addressable global market? Hundreds of millions I would think but I'm not an expert admittedly. Reach a critical mass with the rich paying subscribers on remote Texan oil ranches and you can subsidise the farmers of rural India and continue to grow your market share and make money. Netflix, Spotify, youtube etc. all do the same with their business models - go get yourself a Turkish VPN end point and see how much less you'll pay for Netflix. When you're playing on a global stage then if you can get enough subscribers paying a premium you then charge less in other territories for the same product because there's comparatively little incremental cost. A truly global audience with one consistent product has been mainly the preserve of software solutions to date, particularly internet based ones because the internet is a 'free' global distribution network. Maybe one could argue the case that McDonalds have gotten pretty close, but if someone can do it with the internet itself..... well that's a money maker.
