Should traditional telecommunications companies view Starlink as a threat or a potential partner?

For traditional telecom companies, Starlink is both a "barbarian at the gate" and a "potential golden goose." Which role it plays depends on the telecom company's own scale and market position.

We can look at this in two scenarios:

1. When is it a threat?

Imagine you live in a remote mountainous area or a village with poor network coverage. The only broadband available to your home might be from a small local operator, slow as a snail, and not cheap, leaving you with no other choice.

Then, Starlink arrives. It directly provides high-speed internet via satellite. Although the initial equipment investment is higher, the internet speed and experience could instantly outperform your existing options.

For such small to medium-sized, uncompetitive telecom companies serving remote areas, Starlink is a huge threat. Its emergence is like building a highway right next to a small village that only had dirt roads. The businesses that used to operate on those dirt roads will naturally lose their customers.

In short: Starlink directly competes with companies serving "last-mile" areas.

2. When is it a potential partner?

Now, let's look at it from another perspective. What if you are a national or even global telecom giant like China Mobile or AT&T? The situation is completely different.

These giants' main profits and users are concentrated in cities, where their fiber optic networks are currently unmatched by Starlink in terms of speed, stability, and cost. In urban areas, Starlink cannot pose a real threat to them.

However, for the "long-standing difficult problems" that have always troubled these giants, Starlink becomes a perfect helper:

Supplementing network coverage "blind spots": No operator can lay base stations and fiber optics to every corner of the Earth, such as oceans, deserts, or remote mountains. Previously, these areas were signal blind spots. Now, operators can directly cooperate with Starlink, leasing its satellite network. This way, operators can proudly announce "100% global coverage," with mobile phones having signal everywhere (even via satellite). This deal is beneficial for both parties. For example, T-Mobile in the US has already established a similar partnership with Starlink.
Providing highly reliable backup networks: For critical institutions like banks, hospitals, and governments, even a second of network interruption can cause huge losses. The traditional solution is to lay two fiber optic lines from different operators as backup. Now, they can adopt a "fiber + Starlink satellite" solution. If ground lines are cut, the satellite network immediately takes over, greatly enhancing reliability. Telecom companies can package this as a premium service for enterprise customers.
Solving backhaul issues for remote base stations: In some remote areas, building mobile base stations, the most expensive part is not the base station itself, but the "backhaul fiber optic cables" connecting the base station to the core network. For a single base station on a mountaintop, tens of kilometers of fiber might need to be laid, incurring extremely high costs. Now, Starlink's satellite dish can directly provide network connectivity to this base station, significantly reducing construction costs and time.

Conclusion

Therefore, there is no absolute answer to this question.

For weaker telecom companies serving only remote areas, Starlink is a real threat, an overwhelming, superior force.
For large, mainstream telecom giants, Starlink is more of a potential partner. These giants can leverage Starlink to compensate for their shortcomings, expand their business scope, and accomplish things they previously wanted to do but couldn't, or found too costly.

In essence, this is a "coopetition" relationship. If I can't beat you, I'll find a way to utilize you. Starlink has disrupted the entire market, but it has also created new opportunities for cooperation. Smart telecom companies will not view it as a pure enemy, but rather consider how to leverage it to create greater value for themselves.