SpaceX has the most internet-beaming satellites in its constellation, but competition is coming, and now Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, has announced a TerraWave network. It says TerraWave will offer up to 6Tb of bandwidth available anywhere on Earth for both uploads and downloads.
The only wrinkle? Even after satellite deployment begins in late 2027, you probably won’t be able to connect directly. This is by design, as former Amazon Alexa boss and current Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a post that it’s “purpose-built for enterprise customers.”
Blue Origin’s network features a “multi-orbit” design of 5,408 optically connected satellites. While most of them will be in low-Earth orbit and connect to customers on the ground via regular wireless connections of up to 144Gbps, it will also have 128 satellites in medium-Earth orbit that offer the possibility of 6Tb bidirectional connections.
However, unlike Starlink and Amazon’s new LEO satellite internet network, the company plans to add up to 100,000 customers, not millions, with plans to target “thousands of enterprise, data center and government users who require reliable connectivity for critical functions.” At the moment, Amazon is also focusing on the enterprise sector with its LEO Ultra antennas that promise 1 Gbps downloads and 400 Mbps uploads, while Starlink is considering introducing gigabit speeds this year.
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