Amazon’s Attempt to Take on Starlink


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Wondery from Wondery I'm David Brown, and this is business wars daily on this Thursday, January 11. By now, you've likely heard of Starlink. That's Elon Musk's attempt to bring high speed Internet to everywhere on Earth via satellite. Musk's SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019, and now it provides coverage to over 65 countries. This year, it plans to expand to global mobile phone service as well. The appeal of satellite Internet is that, unlike DSL or broadband, it doesn't rely on clunky earthbound mechanisms to connect. That makes it a better deal for rural and underserved communities that aren't able to access those mechanisms. One of Starlink's missions, after all, involves, quote, closing the rural broadband gap. End quote. This accessibility and name recognition has made Starlink popular. But in recent months, another company has made some key progress on its own satellite venture.


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Project Kuiper is Amazon's attempt to rise up against Starlink and bring satellite connectivity to rural communities. As always, we'll mention here that Wondery was recently acquired by Amazon. Like those at Starlink, the folks behind Project Kuiper tend to speak of their venture in philanthropic terms, according to reporting by Bloomberg, the project's goal, after all, is to connect people in remote or impoverished areas with the unlimited potential of the Internet. But Amazon's also hoping that the project, the bill for which is beyond $10 billion, can turn them into a global telecommunications giant. Starting in 2025, the company plans to sell individual rooftop antennas, cloud computing technology, and connectivity to wireless companies to link cell towers to Kuiper networks, according to Bloomberg. But to compete with Starlink, which has a considerable head start, Amazon has its work cut out for it.


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This past October, Amazon launched its first two Kuiper satellites on a successful test mission. But to meet the terms of its license with regulators, well, it's going to have to build and launch more than two satellites, many more, in fact. Amazon has to build the equivalent of two satellites every day through July of 2026. That's around 3000 more satellites that have to be not only made, but launched into space. Amazon execs say they're up for the challenge, and the company could have a slight edge over Starlink in a key way, according to Bloomberg. See, governments and corporations are currently putting space get it between themselves and a certain Elon Musk, who's had a series of pr snafus in recent months. At the very least, according to Bloomberg, Amazon's building an alternative to all of that.


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But of course, when it comes to launching stuff into the ether, nothing is guaranteed, right? There's no promise that Project Kuiper will make a formidable rival for Starlink, or that Starlink will continue to grow, for that matter. So we'll have to wait and see whether both companies have truly found a new frontier, or whether most of this is just space junk. From wondery this is business wars daily. I'm your host, David Brown. Written and produced by Jessica Yarlasti, our executive of producers Artina Rubio and Marshall Looney.


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