SpaceX faces competition in its quest to encircle the globe with satellites to beam WiFi from OneWeb and even Jeff Bezos' Amazon
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, speaks during a news conference in March after the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. By Christian Davenport Christian Davenport Reporter covering the defense and space industries Email Bio Follow May 15 at 7:09 PM SpaceX was poised to launch 60 satellites to space Wednesday night, a significant step forward in the race to provide Internet service across the globe from a constellation of satellites whizzing around the planet.
On Twitter, Musk recently wrote that the company would need to put up six more batches of 60 satellites for “minor” coverage for what it calls its Starlink program, and an additional 12 batches for “moderate” coverage. But he warned that “much will likely go wrong on 1st mission.” — Elon Musk May 12, 2019 In the race to put up large constellations, it’s unclear which of the companies, if any, will be successful. At stake is the chance to be one of the world’s largest Internet providers by building the architecture in space, giving WiFi access to billions of people without it.
In a statement, Amazon said that its program, known as Project Kuiper, is designed to bring broadband to “unserved and underserved communities around the world. This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband Internet.” According to a filing last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SpaceX sought to raise $400 million, but had only raised $44 million as of the filing, required 15 days after the round opens. In an earlier fundraising round, when it attempted to raise $500 million, it sold only $273 million in equity, according to an SEC filing from January.
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