And any kind of interactive application has to be nonlatency-sensitive. Such systems include not only Astrolink, but also Loral's Cyberstar and Hughes' Spaceway projects. That's just what systems such as Teledesic, Alcatel's Skybridge, and Motorola's Celestri will do. Perhaps the biggest one is that you need a lot of them to get total global coverage. Until recently, the concept of launching dozens or hundreds of multimillion-dollar satellites was a pipe dream.
Price is only one issue.
All told, the LEO system creators are talking about putting more satellites into orbit in the next five years than the world has put into orbit since the Soviets launched Sputnik 40 years ago. To make it happen, a huge jump in launch capacity is necessary. Once the LEO satellites are in orbit, there's an entirely new set of problems. In theory, the answer is yes. Many of the networks will offer some kind of internal security systems.