08 April 2019

CNBC: “Bezos hired a SpaceX vice president to run Amazon’s satellite internet project after Musk fired him”

Project Kuiper represents Bezos’ plan to launch 3,236 small satellites into space to provide high-speed internet to anywhere in the world. The plan puts Amazon in the middle of a race among at least five other companies aiming to launch next-generation satellite networks with global broadband coverage.

Badyal previously ran the “Starlink” division at SpaceX, which launched its first two test satellites last year. SpaceX initially planned for the network to consist of a similar constellation of 4,425 satellites in low Earth orbit. Late last year, the FCC approved an addition of 7,518 satellites to the constellation, bringing Starlink’s planned total to 11,943 satellites in orbit.

Michael Sheetz

I’ve read last week about Amazon’s latest project and immediately thought: ‘oh well, so much for SpaceX’ plans to make money by selling Internet access from space!’ There’s no way the company, by all accounts not yet profitable and dependent of government contracts, will be able to compete with Amazon, with more resources and a steady inflow of cash at their disposal. And the scoop above just goes to prove what many have said before, that Elon Musk is SpaceX’ (and Tesla’s) biggest asset – but also their greatest liability, through his inability to retain talented people.

The other takeaway is, naturally, that this reinforces the case for better antitrust regulation, in order to prevent Silicon Valley giants from taking over any market they enter just by using their scale and cash advantages over smaller companies. It’s particularly concerning in this case, as Jeff Bezos owns a private space venture, Blue Origin, that directly competes with SpaceX. It’s perfectly conceivable for him to give preferential treatment to Blue Origin when awarding launch contracts for Amazon, thereby pushing a competitor out of the market.

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