Bezos’ Blue Origin steps up competition with Musk’s Starlink
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has stepped up competition with Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet system.
Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, announced plans on Wednesday to launch a broadband network for businesses called TeraWave. The first satellites of a planned constellation of around 5,400 are expected to be launched by the end of 2027.
Such systems allow ground equipment to communicate directly with satellites, potentially replacing conventional telecommunications infrastructure. However, capacity is more limited and response times are slightly slower. Customers currently need receiving stations with antennas.
Amazon, of which Bezos stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains the largest shareholder, is already building its own Starlink alternative.
The Amazon Leo system is expected to use more than 3,200 satellites to deliver download speeds of between 100 megabits and 1 gigabit per second, roughly the speed of fast household Internet connections.
Starlink, operated by Musk’s space company SpaceX, is also expected to be upgraded to speeds of 1 gigabit per second in its next generation.
Blue Origin promises much higher performance for TeraWave: up to 144 gigabits per second via 5,280 satellites in low Earth orbit and up to 6 terabits per second – about 6,000 times faster than a standard gigabit connection – via another 128 satellites in medium Earth orbit.
SpaceX was an early pioneer of high-speed satellite internet with Starlink, but Amazon anticipated demand for a competing system.
Musk and Bezos have been rivals for years thanks to their respective rocket projects.
