The satellite internet race is ramping up. In the years since SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlinks back in 2019, numerous competitors have entered the market, including two you’ve almost definitely heard about lately: Amazon Leo and Blue Origin’s newly announced TeraWave.
Starlink, Amazon Leo, and TeraWave are far from the only players in this rapidly growing industry, but they stand out because of their massive financial backings and the ambitious strategic visions of their respective billionaire owners. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk oversees Starlink, while Jeff Bezos—through Amazon and Blue Origin—is developing Amazon Leo and TeraWave.
Each of these brands has taken a unique approach to building the next generation of satellite internet technology. Understanding the differences between them is key to grasping how the future of global connectivity may unfold. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
Vastly different scales of deployment
The first thing to understand is that these networks came on the scene at different times, and their parent companies have chosen different deployment strategies. As a result, they are in various stages of development.
Starlink is by far the most mature of the three. SpaceX was first to market with its satellite project, announcing it in 2015. Since the start of deployment in 2019, the company has rapidly built up the Starlink megaconstellation through hundreds of launches aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, with 9,555 Starlinks currently active and providing broadband internet to millions worldwide.
Amazon unveiled plans to develop a competitor—called Project Kuiper at the time—about one month before SpaceX launched its first batch of operational Starlinks, “but was much slower to really ramp up and start production,” Kevin Bell, senior vice president of the Engineering and Technology Group (ETG) at The Aerospace Corporation, told Gizmodo. “Some of that was satellite driven, some of that was rocket driven,” Bell explained.
While SpaceX’s approach to Starlink development prioritized rapid iteration and deployment, Amazon took its time finalizing the design of its satellites and conducted more extensive prototype testing. Because Amazon does not have its own rockets to support satellite deployment, it partners with launch providers—including SpaceX—to build its constellation.
The company launched its first operational batch of satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket in April 2025. The next launch, set for February 12, will bring the constellation (now called Amazon Leo) up to 212 satellites. Because it is still in the early days of scaling, the service has not yet launched commercially.
Then there’s TeraWave, the newcomer. Blue Origin announced the project on January 21, setting a goal to begin deployment by the first quarter of 2027. The company will presumably use its New Glenn rocket to launch its satellites, but that has not yet been confirmed. According to the announcement, the TeraWave constellation will ultimately scale to 5,408 satellites situated in low-Earth orbit (where Starlink and Amazon Leo reside) and in medium-Earth orbit.
That’s larger than Amazon Leo’s planned deployment of 3,236 satellites, but if Musk gets his way, Starlink will eclipse both of Bezos’s constellations. The Federal Communications Commission recently approved a SpaceX application to launch up to a million more Starlinks for the purpose of building an orbital data center.
Serving unique markets
Broadly speaking, the satellite internet industry serves two types of customers: enterprise and individual users. But according to Bell, these markets can be further divided into five core segments, namely direct to device, direct to consumer, high bandwidth (for business-scale users), backhaul (providing connectivity to underserved areas), and sovereign government.
“While Starlink is really kind of spread across all of them, Amazon and TeraWave have chosen—at least initially—to position themselves towards the higher end,” Bell said.
Starlink indeed serves a diverse array of users, from individuals to the American government. Its primary customer base, however, consists of people living in rural and remote areas who lack access to reliable, high-speed internet. Amazon Leo ultimately plans to target that market, but its initial phase of deployment will serve select enterprise, government, and telecommunications customers.
TeraWave is unique in that it is not at all geared toward individual customers. This network will serve “tens of thousands” of enterprise, data center, and government users, according to Blue Origin.
“One of the big differences there is that, typically, an enterprise would negotiate a service level agreement—so there is a requirement that the company be able to provide a certain level of speed, a certain level of capacity,” Tom Stroup, president of the Satellite Industry Association, told Gizmodo.
To meet that demand, Blue Origin will design TeraWave to deliver data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second anywhere on Earth. By comparison, Starlink and Amazon Leo offer speeds ranging from hundreds of megabits to around 1 gigabit per second, which is suitable for individuals and some enterprise customers but not tailored toward high-capacity backhaul or large-scale enterprise operations.
As these networks grow, the satellite internet industry is undergoing a rapid transformation. Competition between them—and their many other competitors—will continue to drive innovation, bringing faster speeds, higher capacity, and broader coverage to users around the world.
“Each generation of satellite that is being launched has greater speed and capacity than the prior generation,” Stroup said. “We’re just iterating much more quickly than ever before.”
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