- Blue Origin will compete with Starlink and Amazon Leo to bring satellite internet to businesses and governments
- TeraWave network will offer much higher speeds with optical support
- Amazon continues to work with Blue Origin as a launch partner
Blue Origin has announced plans for TeraWave, a new satellite internet network that aims to improve global connectivity for businesses, data centers and government customers.
While not a consumer-focused proposition (yet), Jeff Bezos’ TeraWave is poised to take on rival company and Elon Musk’s brainchild, SpaceX, which operates a similar low-Earth orbit-based network, Starlink.
TeraWave is expected to promise up to 6 Tbps over optical links and up to 144 Gbps per client using radio frequency, as well as symmetrical upload and download speeds.
TeraWave LEO Network
This represents a significant improvement over LEO’s current average, which offers asymmetric speeds of 1 Gbps download and 400 Mbps upload over radio frequency.
The difference is that existing LEO networks serve “many millions” (according to Blue Origin), whereas TeraWave will target around 100,000 customers.
TeraWave will include 5,408 satellites, including 5,280 in low Earth orbit for high-speed radio frequency access and 128 in medium Earth orbit for very high capacity optical (light-based) links.
“It complements fiber optic backhaul with a unique architecture that provides both high-performance RF and optical connectivity,” the company wrote.
Deployment of the constellation is expected to begin in the final months of 2027, years after Stalink goes mainstream with its more than 9,000 satellites. It is also expected to enter the market alongside Amazon’s Leo (formerly Project Kuiper), which currently has 180 satellites in orbit but plans more than 3,200.
Separately, Amazon will continue to use Blue Origin as a launch partner for the expansion of its Leo network, benefiting from Bezos’ New Glenn rocket.
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