It is currently receive only because transmitting to the satellite requires a lot of power and extra stuff that most people won't be able to get.
I think he is underestimating the ingenuity, resolve and the purchasing power of the very early bitcoin adopters.

I know if I had the proper location and resources, the very first thing I'd be working on is a teleport station build out.
well, their supposed use case seems to be the 3rd world where internet is a problem, obviously any of us here could build an uplink system