Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, has announced a new space-based satellite communications network.

The announcement puts him in direct rivalry with Elon Musk, who has his own satellite communications network called Starlink.

Bezo’s TeraWave will use 5408 optically interconnected satellites, which operate in low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit, to provide internet connectivity all over the globe. Its symmetrical data speeds will reach six Tbps.

This network is designed cater to the critical requirements of businesses, governments and data centre operators. Blue Origin says it plans to provide connectivity to “tens of thousands” of customers across these three areas.

Just like Starlink, TeraWave is capable of providing internet to users located in places where conventional internet techniques like fibre aren’t sustainable or possible.

Blue Origin said its new satellite network can get to users in hard-to-reach locations due to “ultra-high-throughput links between global hubs and distributed, multigigabit user connections”.

Enterprise users can also deploy gateway terminals and connect them to their current internet infrastructure for “additional route diversity” and improved network resilience, the company added.

Speeds will vary based on which constellation TeraWave customers end up using. Its low-earth-orbit satellites, which number 5280, are capable of reaching speeds of 144 Gbps. They use Q/V-band links.

TeraWave also has a constellation of 128 middle-earth-orbit satellites that use optical links to provide speeds of up to six Tbps.

The main difference between Q/V-band links and optical link satellites is how they transmit data - with the former relying on high-frequency radio waves and the latter on light.

Set to be deployed in the fourth quarter of 2027, TeraWave’s constellations will offer “point-to-point” and “enterprise-grade” internet. Blue Origin says that both these choices mean its customers will be able to switch between “throughput and physical presence” to accommodate changing requirements.

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