That same $750K might buy you a mile or so of trenching and cable.
If you want to make this about the economics...
All studies on this topic report that it costs less than $250k/mile in metro areas, which cost more due to the need to get permits, plan around utility lines and existing infrastructure, dig into asphalt/sidewalk, and then repair the damage.
In a rural area where you can just dig into dirt and not repair anything, $750k should get you all of a town and then some, and I'm assuming we're talking about one scattered out across tens of miles. You're primarily paying for labor, and it's possible for a small team to dig dozens of miles of utility trenches in a day with common construction equipment. Once you lay the cable, your expenses are essentially fully booked.
A single Starlink satellite, assuming maximum satellite bandwidth and minimal user bandwidth would service at most 2500 customers. At $750k/launch, assuming a useful life of 4 years (per Musk's Techcrunch interview from April 2020) and maximum customers, Spacelink would need to charge at least $6.25/month to each customer not accounting for operational or marketing costs just to break even. You would need to at least double the price to cover ongoing operational costs. Plus, Spacelink would need to pay other ISPs for interconnection agreements, which is another 1x cost there. Add in the costs of paying off R&D and other capitalized costs, and you're looking at a minimum of 5x the putative minimum price of $6.25/month, or roughly $30/month.
Or in other words, Starlink would be charging no less than its current satellite and landline competitors already charge today.
Your operational and marketing and capital costs apply to all ISP's, not just Starlink. The net present value of $6.25 monthly at a 3% interest rate for 20 years is $1100. For 50 years it's $2000. So that's your breakeven point. You might be able to wire up an entire town for less than $2K per customer but you certainly can't do rural customers for that.
Shotwell has said that Starlink will be competitive with $80/month internet.
If you want to make this about the economics...
All studies on this topic report that it costs less than $250k/mile in metro areas, which cost more due to the need to get permits, plan around utility lines and existing infrastructure, dig into asphalt/sidewalk, and then repair the damage.
In a rural area where you can just dig into dirt and not repair anything, $750k should get you all of a town and then some, and I'm assuming we're talking about one scattered out across tens of miles. You're primarily paying for labor, and it's possible for a small team to dig dozens of miles of utility trenches in a day with common construction equipment. Once you lay the cable, your expenses are essentially fully booked.
A single Starlink satellite, assuming maximum satellite bandwidth and minimal user bandwidth would service at most 2500 customers. At $750k/launch, assuming a useful life of 4 years (per Musk's Techcrunch interview from April 2020) and maximum customers, Spacelink would need to charge at least $6.25/month to each customer not accounting for operational or marketing costs just to break even. You would need to at least double the price to cover ongoing operational costs. Plus, Spacelink would need to pay other ISPs for interconnection agreements, which is another 1x cost there. Add in the costs of paying off R&D and other capitalized costs, and you're looking at a minimum of 5x the putative minimum price of $6.25/month, or roughly $30/month.
Or in other words, Starlink would be charging no less than its current satellite and landline competitors already charge today.