What about other frequencies? I've always wondered... radio works so well, why are they not considering stuff that works when thinking of these things? It sounds cartoonish, but why explore these ideas while picking LIGHT or microwaves?
Light is easily seen as a problem on cloudy days and microwaves get messed up in the rain.
Why don't these projects get into Xray lasers or radio wave lasers? stuff that passes thru the atmosphere best? sure, xrays sound bad; but any serious tech is always usable as a weapon of some sort. It's not like war crimes are completely ignored and we are not xraying in the battlefield, which could have been weaponized for a century. At least if they try that stuff we may get progress in other radio devices. Some next-gen radio wave laser probably has some uses!
The only cost effective thing I can see is space factories where the transport costs are worth it. If you could say, make gold cheap enough in space to transport it... or whatever expensive chemical.
Data Centers make a lot of sense because their products and materials are radio waves passing data. Plus the IT person on-site means we have a self-funded space station where IT people get a realistic chance to go to space! (right now you have to be a wealthy fraudster or friend of one) We get hardened electronics...although they get out of date so fast the data center is probably not cost effective without cheaper transport! expensive chemistry is probably all that would work... or quantum computing?