Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is taking satellite internet to a whole new level with its newly announced TeraWave network. The service is aimed at enterprise customers, data centers and government customers rather than regular consumers and promises data speeds of up to an incredible 6 Tbit/s.
According to the official announcement, Blue Origin plans to launch 5,280 low-Earth orbit satellites and 128 medium-Earth orbit satellites for the service, with the first to enter service in late 2027. The low-Earth satellites will rely on RF connectivity and offer a maximum data transfer speed of 144 Gbit/s, while the medium-Earth orbit satellites will use optical links to achieve the published speed of 6 Tbit/s. In comparison, SpaceX’s Starlink currently maxes out at 400 Mbps, with future upgrades targeting 1 Gbps.
According to Blue Origin, the network is intended to add a “space-based layer” to existing infrastructure and cover areas difficult to reach with traditional internet. “TeraWave addresses the unmet needs of customers who desire higher throughput, symmetrical upload/download speeds, more redundancy and rapid scalability,” the company added.
Bezos’ broader ambitions for satellite internet
The announcement comes just months after Amazon rebranded its own satellite internet service Leo. Unlike TeraWave, Leo is more consumer-focused, promising download speeds of up to 1Gbps and peak upload speeds of 400Mbps. Amazon plans to send over 3,000 satellites into low Earth orbit for the service, although there are currently around 180 satellites in orbit.
Taken together, TeraWave and Leo illustrate how Bezos’ companies are approaching satellite internet from opposite ends of the market. While Leo targets consumers with traditional broadband speeds, TeraWave is aimed squarely at businesses that require extreme capacity and global reach. The two projects also set the stage for broader competition with Elon Musk’s Starlink and position Bezos’ ventures against SpaceX in several segments of the satellite internet market.
