Key Points
- Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is launching a new satellite internet network called TeraWave.
- The network will consist of over 5,400 satellites and is targeted at enterprise and government users.
- The move puts Blue Origin in direct competition with SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Leo.
- Blue Origin plans to start deploying the satellites in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Jeff Bezos is jumping into the satellite internet race. His space company, Blue Origin, announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch a constellation of over 5,400 satellites to create a new communications network called TeraWave. The move puts Bezos in direct competition with his two biggest rivals: Elon Musk’s SpaceX and his own former company, Amazon.
TeraWave is not for your average home internet user. Blue Origin is targeting enterprise, data center, and government customers with a high-speed service that promises data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second. The company plans to start deploying the satellites in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Bezos is entering a market that is currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, which has over 9,000 satellites in orbit and millions of customers. Amazon is also making a big push with its own satellite internet service, recently rebranded from Project Kuiper to Leo.
Interestingly, some of Amazon’s future satellite launches are expected to be handled by Blue Origin’s rockets. This creates a strange dynamic where Bezos’s new venture will be both a partner and a competitor to the e-commerce giant he founded.
Bezos has long had grand ambitions for Blue Origin, even predicting in 2024 that it would one day be bigger than Amazon. The company is primarily a rocket launch provider, but this new satellite network is a major step toward becoming a more diversified space company.
Blue Origin has had its share of successes and setbacks. It recently notched a major milestone with the successful launch of its massive New Glenn rocket, and it has also been flying tourists to the edge of space.
The launch of TeraWave will be a major test of whether the company can execute on its bold vision and take on the established players in the satellite internet market.
