Amazon Joins The Satellite Internet Party
Quote from Ndubuisi Ekekwe on April 7, 2019, 8:52 AMEveryone wants to provide affordable internet via satellite. The latest player is Amazon, after SpaceX and OneWeb have launched satellites for internet services. Broadband price will crash - I have predicted 2022.
Last month, Amazon filed with the International Telecommunications Union for permission to put 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit so it could offer Internet service globally. The plan, codenamed Project Kuiper, is similar to those of a number of other companies that are pushing to establish new satellite-based commercial Internet services.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, for example, plans to put 12,000 satellites in low Earth orbit while OneWeb, backed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group, is looking to loft hundreds of spacecraft. Several smaller efforts are also underway, including by Canadian satellite operator Telesat.
Meanwhile, dozens of tiny startups like Swarm Technologies, Astrocast, and Sky and Space Global are working to send cheap, toaster-size satellites called cubesats into orbit.
Everyone wants to provide affordable internet via satellite. The latest player is Amazon, after SpaceX and OneWeb have launched satellites for internet services. Broadband price will crash - I have predicted 2022.
Last month, Amazon filed with the International Telecommunications Union for permission to put 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit so it could offer Internet service globally. The plan, codenamed Project Kuiper, is similar to those of a number of other companies that are pushing to establish new satellite-based commercial Internet services.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, for example, plans to put 12,000 satellites in low Earth orbit while OneWeb, backed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group, is looking to loft hundreds of spacecraft. Several smaller efforts are also underway, including by Canadian satellite operator Telesat.
Meanwhile, dozens of tiny startups like Swarm Technologies, Astrocast, and Sky and Space Global are working to send cheap, toaster-size satellites called cubesats into orbit.