How valuable are geostationary slots these days? LEO swarms have eaten some of the GEO lunch. What are the niches where LEO swarms aren't a workable replacement?
Communications over a specific geographic region and budget for only one bird and/or only one launch.
That's pretty much most of the world's nations' telecommunication needs. SpaceX has put up at least half a dozen satellites for small nations meeting these very common requirements.
Ah, that makes sense: if sovereignty is a driving requirement you can't just piggyback on the big LEO swarm deployments, but a single geostationary satellite covers exactly the territory that you care about. Now I understand. Thanks.
