Optimising LEO Gateway Placement for the People

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks are rapidly becoming the default broadband solution in developing countries, especially in areas lacking reliable terrestrial infrastructure. This paper investigates how gateway (GW) placement affects user experience in such networks, focusing on key performance metrics such as hop count and latency. Using real-world Starlink deployment data and global population distributions, we compare three gateway placement strategies: Starlink's current deployment (382 GWs), a country-centroid model (241 GWs), and Internet Exchange Point (IXP) co-location (382 and 787 locations). Our analysis shows that IXP co-location delivers superior performance, connecting (96.8%) of global users via direct bent-pipe links compared to country-centroid placement (94%) and Starlink's current layout (83.9%). While country-centroid placement appears optimal theoretically, it fails practically in landlocked regions lacking Point of Presence (POP) backhaul infrastructure. Rwanda exemplifies this challenge, forcing Starlink to deploy community gateways instead. Conversely, Starlink's strategy of leveraging existing IXP and POP locations proves effective, demonstrating that even revolutionary satellite technology must align with terrestrial infrastructure realities. Since bent-pipe connectivity offers significantly lower latency than multi-hop inter-satellite paths, these results demonstrate that optimal gateway placement requires alignment with both population density and existing internet infrastructure. This is especially crucial in the Global South, where LEO networks are increasingly relied upon for everyday internet access.