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Certainly one of the most profitable areas SpaceX is involved in is satellite Internet service with its Starlink satellites. With the potential for huge profits, satellite internet service is something other competing companies are trying to break into as well, including Amazon. This week, Amazon’s satellite internet project attempted to clarify its position in response to allegations by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that Amazon is trying to stifle competition in the sector.
Amazon’s satellite internet service is called Kuiper, and the company is working to build a broadband network by placing satellites in orbit, just as Starlink has done. Amazon has said in the past that the FCC should consider Starlink a “newly designated system” and subject it to a broader range of regulatory processing after SpaceX filed a request for modification last year.
This week, Amazon representatives spoke with FCC officials urging the FCC not to approve a request for modification that SpaceX made for part of its satellite network. According to Amazon, the changes that SpaceX has proposed are too significant for the FCC to consider a simple modification. Rather, Amazon wants the system to be designated as a “newly designed system” that imposes more extensive regulatory processing.
Amazon believes that doing so would be consistent with the precedent set by the FCC and would protect the public interest, encourage coordination and promote competition. Other satellite Internet providers are also rejecting Starlink’s request for modification. SpaceX’s request for modification was to move some 2,800 satellites in the initial phase of the Starlink constellation to a lower altitude orbit than previously authorized.
The FCC has yet to decide on the proposal, although it allowed SpaceX to put ten satellites in a different orbit last month. SpaceX believes that Amazon is trying to paralyze its operations because Amazon is at least several years away from launching its first satellites.
