When we talk about satellite constellations that provide broadband Internet access, star link this is the first name that comes to mind. Like this. The fact is that the platform, owned by SpaceX Elon Musk, has led to major technological advances in this matter in recent years. With a constellation of over 2,500 satellites already in orbit and a much anticipated hardware upgrade, the firm is positioning itself as the undisputed benchmark in the sector.
It’s true that Starlink still has a long way to go in terms of global availability. Today, the service operates in the United States, partly in Mexico, some European countries, including Spain, Australia, New Zealand, partly in Chile and Brazil. And with the recent approval granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to offer satellite internet service in moving vehicles, the company is moving ahead with its plans to cover commercial flights, trailers and ships, although the price is still ridiculously high in the latter case.
But beyond technical advances, Starlink’s impact is not limited to its technical capabilities. Elon Musk’s name always creates attraction, and the tycoon himself was involved in providing services to countries in crisis. The most resonant cases were in Tonga after the volcanic eruption that tore the country from the rest of the world, and in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion.
However, Starlink is not the only company in this field. In fact, there are several players who want to challenge their intervention in the market. But are they really worrying Elon Musk and SpaceX? We analyze below.
Kuiper Systems, “Enemy No. 1” of Starlink
If we’re talking about companies that have decided to oppose Starlink, one of the ones that have made the most impact is Kuiper systems. But not because of his deployment or already installed operating capacity, but because he directed some of the chapters of the dispute between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Kuiper Systems is an Amazon subsidiary founded in 2019 to provide broadband satellite internet similar to Starlink. However, the signature has not yet launched a single satellite into low earth orbitand there is no official date for this.
So far, the Amazon-funded project promises to use more than 3,200 satellites to provide communications. Last April, it became known that the company founded by Bezos signed agreements with three companies for 83 launches over the next five years. The French will make them arianspaceAmerican United Starter Alliance – a consortium consisting of the aerospace divisions of Boeing and Lockheed Martin – and how could it be otherwise, Blue Origin.
According to a report from Ars TechniqueToday, Kuiper Systems is about four years behind SpaceX and Starlink in developing their service. And worst of all, without its own rockets, each launch is estimated to cost an Amazon subsidiary (on average) three times what Elon Musk’s firm spends to get a Falcon 9 airborne.
Thus, while the company is working to get its entire structure up and running, its main battle with Starlink is being fought with the authorities. In August 2021, Kuiper Systems sent a letter of protest to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking them to refuse permission granted to Elon Musk’s company. In particular, he objected to the inclusion of two second-generation satellite alignment configurations developed by SpaceX.
As expected, Elon Musk did not like the situation, and he did not hesitate to express it. It turns out that Bezos retired to take a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX., the mogul tweeted about this. Dart, which has already been poisoned by a lawsuit that Blue Origin, also owned by Bezos, filed against NASA for choosing SpaceX as the sole contractor to develop the Artemis program’s lunar lander.
The truth is that the benefits of Kuiper Systems’ satellite internet service are far from proven. When the company begins to fulfill its launch schedule, the picture will be slightly different.
OneWeb: from rival to ally
When One Web It is one of the brightest as it already has a constellation of satellites similar to the Starlink constellation in orbit. However, the economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic pushed the company to the brink of bankruptcy. However, it managed to revive after significant investment from the UK government and the Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel.
OneWeb has already launched 428 of the 648 satellites that bring its constellation to life. The same ones, developed in collaboration with Airbus, were launched into orbit between February 2020 and February 2022 using Russian Soyuz rockets. However, Russia decided to terminate its services to the London-based company in response to Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
Thus, OneWeb again plunged into obscurity, until SpaceX came to the rescue. Elon Musk’s company provided its rockets to complete the launch of the remaining 220 satellites. It is expected that the first of the flights using the platform of the American company will take place from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023.
And while OneWeb’s idea is to offer Internet access around the world, it will do so differently than Starlink. He will provide services in alliance with various telecom operatorswhen SpaceX does it directly for customers.
ViaSat, heavyweight
Another competitor of Starlink in providing satellite internet is via satellite. The American company has been operating since 1986, but since 2013 it has received permission to operate satellites transmitting in the Ka band. The big difference with Elon Musk’s company is that it doesn’t use a constellation of small constellations in low Earth orbit, but several large satellites operating in higher orbits.
It currently has four satellites −ViaSat-1, WildBlue1, Anik-F2 and ViaSat-2— working on launching another one, ViaSat-3. In addition, he acquired the entire infrastructure KA-SAT, launched in 2010 and owned by Eutelsat. Today, it offers internet speeds up to 100 Mbps for home users in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and parts of South America. And the bet on their increase is in the hands of ViaSat-3.
But like Kuiper Systems, ViaSat has become more famous for its public Starlink connections than for its services. The companies exchanged darts through the FCC, and one of the latest cases occurred in June last year. According to ViaSat, SpaceX’s second-generation satellites overload low earth orbit and this will create a very high risk of collision for other companies that must cross it to operate.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s company responded by accusing ViaSat of being “the chief obstructionist of the satellite industry”. Moreover, as we collect Bloombergasked the FCC to prevent the acquisition of a British communications company Inmarsatwhich ViaSat announced last November.
Several companies point to Starlink
Kuiper Systems, Viasat and OneWeb are not the only companies looking to gain a foothold in the Starlink-led industry. Boeing, for example, also unveiled plans to launch its own constellation to provide satellite internet. However, in principle it would be limited to offering it in the United States and its two unincorporated territories, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
satellite is another firm that wants to have its own Starlink. We are talking about a Canadian company with more than 50 years of experience, which plans to launch its own constellation of 1,600 satellites into low Earth orbit from 2023. Through this platform baptized speed of lightpromises to have global coverage from 2024.
Chinese automaker Geely He also has plans in this sector, albeit with some peculiarities. The company has a subsidiary called space, with the help of which it plans to launch more than 200 satellites into low Earth orbit. The main intention is to use them as part of an autonomous driving system developed by a car manufacturer. Although it is possible to expand its implementation to other projects.
What all these initiatives have in common is that they are still in the very early stages of development. And while neither SpaceX, nor Starlink, nor Elon Musk should rest on their laurels, they have reason to hope that no one will dispute its place as the primary constellation benchmark for satellite internet.. At least not in the short term.
What is clear is that this is an industry that is of growing interest. The global business valuation is expected to reach $30 billion by 2030, up from $12 billion today.
Not in vain, even the European Union has outlined a plan to create its own Starlink.; especially after seeing the growing interest in these “mega-constellations” from the United States, Russia and China. “[…] There is a mismatch between the rapidly changing government needs and the EU solutions available both nationally and at the European level for secure, reliable and diverse satellite communications services, made possible in particular by technological advances related to medium and low Earth orbits,” they explained. last February.
Source: Hiper Textual
