Topline
Jeff Bezos’ astronautics company Blue Origin announced its own satellite communications network Wednesday, teeing up competition for Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has largely dominated the satellite internet industry.
The announcement from Blue Origin was made Wednesday.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Key Facts
The communications network, TeraWave, will have 5,408 interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit and provide service for enterprise, data center and government users, according to Blue Origin.
TeraWave’s network of satellites will begin in the fourth quarter of 2027, Blue Origin said in a statement.
Blue Origin says the satellite network will have data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second anywhere on Earth, speeds several thousand times faster than typical home internet speeds in the U.S.
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How Does Terawave Compare To Starlink?
The Blue Origin satellite network will serve tens of thousands of users when deployed. Starlink had nine million users as of December 2025. TeraWave’s architecture will also likely have far fewer satellites than Starlink, which had around 9,300 satellites deployed as of last month.
Key Background
The announcement from Bezos’ astronautics company comes not long after Amazon rebranded its own satellite communications network from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo. The first group of Amazon Leo satellites will be launched next month, with 32 planned for orbit. The deployment will tack on to the 27 satellites sent into space last April under the Project Kuiper banner. Leo will have a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites. Satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar told PCMag both Leo and TeraWave constellations overlap in their targeted customers.
Further Reading
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Launched A NASA Mars Mission (Forbes)
Blue Origin Plans a Faster Starlink Competitor With ‘TeraWave’ (PCMag)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2026/01/21/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-announces-terawave-a-competitor-to-elon-musks-starlink/
