Amazon’s Bezos in internet space race
THE richest man in the world is racing against Elon Musk and the British Government to build satellites which providing ultra-fast broadband from space.
Online retailer Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, received US government permission yesterday to send 3,236 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO).
His Project Kuiper aims to provide highspeed 5G internet to parts of the world which lack it.
The scheme will go head-to-head with billionaire tech mogul Mr Musk’s Starlink network, being built by his aerospace company SpaceX.
Meanwhile the UK has invested £400million in the firm OneWeb, which is building a megaconstellation broadband project.
Sovereign
Business Secretary Alok Sharma says it will help deliver the “first UK sovereign space capability”.
Amazon has posted the biggest profit in its 26-year history as online sales surged by 48 per cent to £35billion during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Bezos, who has an estimated net worth of £140billion, is investing more than £7.6billion into Project Kuiper.
Amazon said: “A project of this scale requires significant effort and resources and due to the nature of LEO constellations it is not the kind of initiative that can start small.”
Mr Musk has launched 500 satellites into LEO – an altitude less than 620 miles above Earth – but has permission for 12,000.
He hopes to provide broadband services in the US and Canada by the end of the year.
Amazon’s project will be completed by mid-2029.