Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has stepped up competition with Elon Musk's satellite internet system Starlink.
Bezos' space company Blue Origin on Wednesday announced plans to launch a high-speed network for businesses dubbed TeraWave. The first satellites of a planned constellation of around 5,400 are due to be launched by the end of 2027.
Such systems allow ground-based equipment to communicate directly with satellites, potentially replacing conventional telecommunications infrastructure. However, capacity is more limited and response times are slightly slower. Customers currently require reception stations with antennas.
Amazon, where Bezos stepped down as chief executive in 2021 but remains the largest shareholder, is already building a Starlink alternative of its own.
The Amazon Leo system is expected to use more than 3,200 satellites to deliver download speeds of between 100 megabits and 1 gigabit per second - roughly the speed of fast household internet connections.
Starlink, operated by Musk's space company SpaceX, is also expected to be upgraded to speeds of 1 gigabit per second in its next generation.
Blue Origin is promising far higher performance for TeraWave: up to 144 gigabits per second via 5,280 satellites in low Earth orbit and up to 6 terabits per second - around 6,000 times faster than a standard gigabit connection - via a further 128 satellites in medium Earth orbit
SpaceX was an early pioneer of high-speed satellite internet with Starlink, but Amazon anticipated demand for a competing system.
Musk and Bezos have been rivals for years through their respective rocket ventures.
