Food, clothing, shelter — and now, the internet. The list of basic life necessities has gained an extra requirement, yet many still can’t access it. Social media may have us under the illusion that the entire world has access to high-speed internet, but the reality is rather different. A staggering 2.6 billion people are offline, approximately one-third of the world’s population. There is a dire need for an alternative to rewrite the rules of who gets connected and how.
Despite telecommunications companies touting seemingly affordable packages with unlimited calls and data, costs are still prohibitively expensive for many in low-income countries. Rural areas especially face infrastructure limitations, with many telcos opting to avoid deploying in these areas due to high costs, geographic barriers, and low return on investment.
With billions offline, the world needs an alternative solution to bring the UN’s vision of providing universal internet access to fruition. One method attracting attention in recent years is deploying a constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These LEO satellites circle the Earth at a lower altitude than geosynchronous satellites, orbiting between 160 km and 2,000 km, reducing latency and improving coverage in areas where traditional infrastructure is lacking.
Not long ago, launching a satellite felt like something only governments or multinationals could dream of. Today, that’s changed. Reports have highlighted that nearly 7500 active satellites orbit the Earth, with 50 on average being launched every week.
Thanks to cheaper launch costs and more accessible technology, satellites are no longer rare. The cost of sending payloads into LEO has dropped drastically, from around $65,000 per kilogram to just $1,500, which is a 95% decrease over the past few decades. Additionally, the advent of reusable rockets could further reduce the costs.
As of 2024, an estimated 4 to 5 million people worldwide had already signed up for satellite-based internet. Satellite broadband connections grew by 52.5% year over year, while fibre only saw a 7.4 per cent bump. This rising demand comes down to two things: speed and accessibility. Typical download speeds of satellite internet range between 50 and 150 Mbps, with peaks that can surpass 200 Mbps. Latency averages around 25 milliseconds for round-trip time, which means less lag and a smoother experience for users.
Combine that with fast download speeds and the ability to reach places traditional networks can’t, and it’s easy to see why LEO broadband is being seen as a real solution to the digital divide.
Although promising on paper, two major challenges still stand in the way of LEO satellites closing the digital divide. The first is cost. These services are often priced far beyond what low-income or rural communities can afford, keeping access limited to wealthier users. In the U.S. alone, 56% of low-income households report that a monthly broadband cost of $75, the national average for a basic broadband service, is too expensive. This makes it difficult for these users to opt for LEO broadband services over traditional options. This disparity is felt even more harshly in the developing world.
The second issue is control. Most LEO networks are owned and operated by private companies or individuals, meaning a single entity holds the power to switch services on or off. If that authority decides to cut off access in a particular region, users are left with no recourse. What many communities are still fighting for is not just access, but ownership and autonomy.
This is where decentralized physical infrastructure networks could make a real difference. DePIN is a model where communities collectively build and own infrastructure using blockchain technology to coordinate everything. Instead of one company owning thousands of satellites, individuals contribute resources — funding, equipment, or labor — and blockchain automatically tracks contributions and distributes ownership tokens.
By enabling communities to build, own, and operate critical infrastructure, from wireless networks to satellite systems, DePIN offers more than just an alternative to traditional telecoms. It presents a path to close the digital divide in ways that centralized systems have consistently failed to do.
Imagine a rural community in a mountainous area where traditional telecom infrastructure hasn’t yet arrived. Laying fibre-optic cables would be expensive and logistically impossible. But with a decentralized satellite network, local cooperatives could deploy small ground stations connected to open-source, Low Earth Orbit satellites. These would be owned and maintained by the community itself, ensuring the service is tailored to local needs.
By shifting control from a single company to a broader ecosystem of builders, users, and local operators, DePIN opens the door to affordable internet access for the billions still offline. More importantly, this decentralized approach gives users something traditional systems cannot: ownership and economic participation. Instead of being passive consumers, community members can earn returns on their connectivity investments, similar to how solar grid-tie projects and wind farms generate passive income by sharing energy output with the broader grid.
The technology to achieve this transformation already exists, and the timing couldn’t be more critical. Internet access is no longer a luxury; it’s a fundamental necessity for education, healthcare, commerce, and social connection. While the current race to dominate the skies risks creating new digital monopolies that price out the very communities most in need, decentralized satellite networks offer a different path forward. By combining the reach of LEO satellites with the community ownership principles of DePIN, we have the potential to not just narrow the digital divide but to eliminate it.
