E-Commerce Giant Getting Ready to Launch Amazon Satellite Internet Constellation

Amazon is gearing up to compete with SpaceX in the satellite Internet business. Amazon project Kuiper should include over three thousand satellites in low Earth orbit. This April, the company has already contracted three launch providers – Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, and Arianespace – to deploy its constellation to LEO.

SpaceX vs Amazon Satellite Internet

Amazon constellation should include a total of 3,236 satellites for broadband connectivity. In contrast to that, SpaceX satellite Internet should include 12,000 spacecraft, and over two thousand of those have already been deployed. So, while many see Amazon’s project Kuiper as a competition to SpaceX Starlink, it is too early to draw any conclusions. Besides, experts believe that the satellite Internet business definitely has room for more than one player.

Industry Experts on Satellite Internet Business

Senior analyst at Quilty Analytics, Caleb Henry, says that today’s market for satellite communications is worth tens of billions of dollars, which is why one constellation will never accommodate the entire sector. Henry expects that there will be at least two, probably more, constellations to bring satellite internet to remote areas.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, over a third of the world’s population has never used the internet. Most of these people live in developing countries, but there are also remote areas where fibre connection is simply impossible.

Henry believes that Amazon’s decision to invest in the satellite business makes perfect sense because the giant business positions itself as an ‘everything company.’ Besides, a lot of Amazon’s profits come from its AWS cloud platform, which calls for massive internet infrastructure. At this point, it is irrelevant if the infrastructure will depend on fibre or data centres – anything goes as long as it’s there.

And while Amazon satellite internet may not have the same numbers as SpaceX constellation, it should still play its part in making wireless internet globally available.