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SpaceX rival Blue Origin has announced its own competitor to Starlink that promises to offer even faster speeds, but it’s only for enterprise and government customers.
On Wednesday, Blue Origin introduced TeraWave, a satellite internet system designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth.
“This network will service tens of thousands of enterprise, data center, and government users who require reliable connectivity for critical operations,” the Jeff Bezos-owned company said.
The system looks poised to rival SpaceX’s Starshield, which uses Starlink technology for military and government customers. In a regulatory filing, Blue Origin noted: “TeraWave is developed to offer secure, high-capacity services for government users—civil, defense, and national security—wherever they operate. These users face some of the most acute consequences from connectivity loss.”
But unlike Starlink, the TeraWave system is designed for a smaller customer base. Blue Origin has published a graphic that shows it's targeting about 100,000 customers. In contrast, Starlink already has over 9 million users worldwide.
(Credit: Blue Origin)TeraWave will span 5,408 satellites that will orbit in both low and medium orbits. Interestingly, the company plans to deliver terabit-level speeds not via radio signals but with “optical links,” suggesting the use of lasers.
Of those, 128 will deliver speeds up to 6Tbps in medium Earth orbit. The remaining 5,280 low-Earth orbit satellites promise speeds up to 144Gbps through next-generation Q/V-band links.
(Credit: Blue Origin/FCC)The announcement is surprising since Amazon, the e-commerce giant that Bezos also founded, is close to launching its own Starlink competitor called Leo. It, too, has been designed to serve enterprise and government customers, as well as consumers. But for now, Leo plans on offering speeds ranging from 100Mbps to 400Mbps and up to 1Gbps. In addition, Amazon only has 180 satellites in orbit, although over 3,200 are planned for the first-generation constellation. The company must launch half of the constellation by July 2026 under its regulatory application, but is expected to file for an extension.
TeraWave arrives as a seemingly more advanced, but longer-term project. Blue Origin notes: “Deployment of the TeraWave constellation will begin in Q4 2027.”
When asked about Amazon Leo, the company also told PCMag: "This is a separate project. We identified an unmet need with customers who were seeking enterprise-grade internet access with higher speeds, symmetrical upload/download speeds, more redundancy, and rapid scalability for their networks. TeraWave solves for these problems."
Meanwhile, satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar said the TeraWave project raises questions about how it'll work with Amazon Leo. Although the satellite designs appear different, both constellations overlap in their targeted customers.
"Is this all part of an ongoing negotiation with Amazon?" Farrar asked about the possibility of Bezos pressuring Amazon's current CEO, Andy Jassy, to keep investing in Leo or spin it off to Blue Origin.
"One takeaway is that everyone recognizes the value of vertical integration where rocket makers create their own launch demand by building a constellation, as SpaceX has done," Farrar added. "Amazon doesn’t have that right now, and it is a problem when you want to develop a mass market satellite system with good enough economics to meet consumer price points, because you end up paying the full retail price for your launches."
In the meantime, Blue Origin has also made a formal request to the US Federal Communications Commission to launch and operate the TeraWave constellation. The filing notes 5,280 of the satellites will orbit the Earth between 520 and 540 kilometers, while the remaining 128 will occupy “five altitude shells between 8,000 and 24,200 km.”
(Credit: Blue Origin/FCC)“TeraWave enables high-capacity service in remote, rural, and suburban areas where fiber deployment may be infeasible,” the filing adds. “By offering an additional layer of global connectivity, TeraWave will increase route diversity, reduce single failure risks, and strengthen the overall resilience and capacity of US and international data transfer networks.”