This rivalry between Amazon and SpaceX is not new.
Back in 2000, Jeff Bezos started up Amazon’s space, and soon, in 2002, Elon Musk from SpaceX and Tesla also founded SpaceX’s subsidiary, Starlink Satellites.
While Elon Musk was able to get the approval from Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for a constellation of around 4000 satellites, the company already launched two Starlink satellites in 2018 only. By now, SpaceX has already sent 900 plus satellites in the earth’s orbit.
On the other hand, Amazon’s Project Kuiper received approval from FCC in 2019 with a plan to fly around 3236 satellites in the low Earth orbit. At that time, Amazon’s stance was that it is a long-term project that will serve millions of people with basic broadband internet connectivity.
However, while Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already begun beta testing and recently got approval in the UK also, Amazon still has not deployed any satellite in the orbit as yet.
Now, while SpaceX and Amazon are already in a serious tug of internet war with their respective broadband satellite internet projects, Dish, another famous satellite company whose founder is Charlie Ergen is now urging the FCC to “allocate the airwaves covered by the FCC’s latest study for 5G broadband,” as reported by Axios.
The Ever-increasing Rivals
While Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were already in a tough competition, now Dish’s Charlie Ergen has come up with a fight over the airwaves. And this is not where the rivalries end. As per Axios, Dish is currently looking for ways to deploy a 5G wireless service in competition with T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, etc.
RS Access, a company which is backed up by Dell also supports Dish for its 5G airwaves stance in front of the FCC. As per its CEO, V.Noah Campbell, all the satellite companies have to be really aggressive about how to use various frequencies that are available in the marketplace. Sadly, there is not a lot that is available.
FCC’s Stance
The FCC voted in the favor of letting other companies explore and deliver 5G services through the same airwaves as Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are using for the space-based broadband internet.
The FCC is continuously stressing that it has not reached a conclusion as yet about the fights and demands of all these satellite rivals over the airwaves and the space in the orbit for each other. But it has clearly been demonstrating some favoritism for SpaceX’s project more, perhaps because, in reality, its satellites are the only ones that have reached the orbit as yet!
The FCC recently approved around $900 million in subsidies for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite deployment. The Commission is already looking into and considering all the investments that SpaceX has already made, and it is quite possible that it will eventually favor SpaceX’s project instead of the 5G services.
Not only this, as per SpaceX’s request to the FCC to let them use lower altitudes for 2800 satellites, the FCC allowed SpaceX to go ahead on the lower altitude with 10 satellites.
Amazon is raising a ruckus in front of the FCC about this decision of allowing SpaceX to send its satellites at a lower altitude. Amazon’s fear is that this will lead to satellite collisions and a lot of space junk along with increased traffic. However, the point that Amazon is forgetting here is that its satellites have still not reached there, and it is just Starlink’s satellites that are currently there in the lower orbit.
Amazon has been going on and on with its battles and trying to pressure the FCC to block SpaceX’s requests for the lower altitude issue. However, the FCC is not clearly looking at Amazon very favorably for the time being.
SpaceX’s Apprehensions with 5G Service
SpaceX believes that 5G services will hamper Starlink’s project. Elon Musk has asked the FCC chairman to look into this matter as if the 5G services are favored in the end, then it will cause a lot of damage to Starlink’s satellite broadband internet project.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
