Regarding the 3rd world, Facebook offered India free internet with strings attached, and IIRC they rejected it. That idea wasn't too popular there or here.
Would Musk be given a pass for offering discounted or free internet to 3rd world countries, and what strings would investors suggest he attach?
> Would Musk be given a pass for offering discounted or free internet to 3rd world countries, and what strings would investors suggest he attach?
Why would he want to do that? Facebook wanted to do that, because that would drive more users to their platform. SpaceX wants to use Starlink in order to bankroll BFR[0], so what they want is to simply sell the service at a price point that generates them enough money. It's not beneficial to them to discount it, make it free, or play other shenanigans.
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[0] - Or whatever it's called now; it'll always be the BFR in my heart.
If you have a lot of market power and you want to make as much money as possible the rational thing to do is to charge people according to their willingness to pay[1]. You can't do this perfectly but this is what is behind senior discounts and Intel's huge number of SKUs. Since people in Botswana can't profitably resell their internet in England, since Starlink can easily charge different amounts in different countries, and because the marginal cost of servicing a new region is approximately zero it would be crazy for Starlink not to do geographic pricing tiers.
If money is your only goal, that's completely rational. However, that's not how I've typically heard people champion Musk. He's been lauded as a progressive person whose aims are meant to serve humanity, not merely his wallet. Supposedly.
All human beings are complex and you can't just sort them into good people and bad people. Elon seems to be more idealist than most about the fate of humanity as a whole but also seems to be willing to work his employees to the bone, drive sharp bargains, etc to pursue that goal. He's said that he sees Starlink as a cash cow that'll fund future Mars colonies and I don't have any reason to believe that he isn't being sincere about that.
> All human beings are complex and you can't just sort them into good people and bad people.
Some would make the argument that if everyone worked with only their wallet in mind, we'd be better off. I wouldn't.
> Elon seems to be more idealist than most
Elon is not an idealistic engineer, he is a businessman. He actively misleads about products he must have been told will not meet the timelines he promotes.
> about the fate of humanity
Not sure where you get this idea. The way he talks about AGI taking over the world is creepy. He thinks it's inevitable, nevermind that we have no idea how to design anything close to AGI.
It's not like serving humanity and making money is mutally exclusive. If there are markets in developing countries he can serve cheaper than anyone else both sides profit: he makes money, the people get cheaper internet.
That said, internet already tends to be the infrastructure demand best satisfied in developing countries. Building cell phone towers is much easier than building roads, and with cheap labor and no purchasing power comes cheap internet.
> If there are markets in developing countries he can serve cheaper than anyone else both sides profit: he makes money, the people get cheaper internet.
Let's see whether it is net-neutral internet or not, then judge. My guess is it will have exclusive offers to content distributors in order to lower cost.
I think your parent also meant the developed world.
In devloping countries it's sometimes much easier to get fibre. No or very little infrastructure means no old copper wires lying around. You can go fibre instantly this way.
I'm afraid you are drastically underestimating how much it actually costs to install fiber.