Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink communications network is facing increasingly stiff challenges to its dominance of high-speed satellite internet, including a Chinese state-backed rival and another service funded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n
Shanghai-based SpaceSail signed a deal to enter Brazil in November and announced it was in talks with more than 30 countries. It started operations in Kazakhstan two months later, according to the Kazakh embassy in Beijing.<\/p>\n
Brazil is also in talks with Bezos\u2019 Project Kuiper internet service and Canada\u2019s Telesat, according to a Brazilian official involved in the negotiations who spoke to Reuters <\/em>on condition of anonymity. News of these talks is being reported for the first time.<\/p>\n Since 2020, Starlink has launched more satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) \u2014 an altitude of less than 2,000 kilometers \u2014 than all its competitors combined. Satellites operating at such low altitudes transmit data extremely efficiently, providing high-speed internet for remote communities, maritime vessels, and armies at war.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s superiority in space creates serious competition for Beijing, which is heavily investing in this race and funding extensive research. According to data analyzed by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell and technology consultancy Analysys Mason, China launched a record 263 LEO satellites last year.<\/p>\n Its rival to Starlink, SpaceSail, has been welcomed by the Brazilian government, which wants high-speed internet for communities in remote areas but has previously clashed with Musk over trade and politics.<\/p>\n SpaceSail declined to comment when asked by Reuters <\/em>about its expansion plans. Last year, a newspaper controlled by China\u2019s telecoms regulator praised SpaceSail as \u201ca strategic capability that can transcend national borders, penetrate sovereignty, and cover the whole world unconditionally … a strategic capability that our country must master.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuiper, Telesat, Starlink, and the Brazilian communications ministry did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Few of Musk\u2019s international competitors have the same ambition as SpaceSail, which is controlled by the Shanghai municipal government. Starlink, which has announced plans to deploy 648 LEO satellites this year and 15,000 by 2030, currently operates about 7,000 satellites and aims to operate 42,000 by the end of the decade, according to McDowell.<\/p>\n The satellites SpaceSail will launch will form the Qianfan or \u201cThousand Sails\u201d constellation, China\u2019s first international push into satellite broadband. China\u2019s other three constellations are also under development, with Beijing planning to launch 43,000 LEO satellites in the coming decades and investing in rockets capable of carrying multiple satellites.<\/p>\n China\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in response to Reuters <\/em>questions that it was not aware of details about SpaceSail and China\u2019s deployment of LEO satellites overseas but emphasized that Beijing was continuing space cooperation with other countries for the benefit of their people.<\/p>\n SpaceSail stated that it aims to provide reliable internet to more users, especially in remote areas and during emergencies and natural disaster recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink communications network is facing increasingly stiff challenges to its dominance of high-speed satellite internet, including a Chinese state-backed rival and another service funded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Shanghai-based SpaceSail signed a deal to enter Brazil in November and announced it was in talks with more than 30 countries. It started operations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[7048,7045,2282,7052,3219,7044,3832,7043,7046,7051,7047,7050,3829,7054,7055,7053,3830,2429,3828,7049],"class_list":["post-8018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","tag-brazil-satellite-internet","tag-china-satellite-program","tag-elon-musk","tag-global-internet-coverage","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-leo-satellites","tag-low-earth-orbit","tag-project-kuiper","tag-qianfan-constellation","tag-remote-internet-access","tag-satellite-broadband","tag-satellite-competition","tag-satellite-internet","tag-satellite-launches","tag-shanghai-municipal-government","tag-space-race","tag-spacesail","tag-spacex","tag-starlink","tag-telesat"],"yoast_head":"\n