Internet Satellite Competition Heats Up: China's Rival Challenges Elon Musk's Starlink

SpaceSsail from China, challenging Starlini's dominance (photo; x @crypto_quaint)

JAKARTA - The competition in space is getting tighter for Elon Musk. The billionaire's satellite communications network, Starlink, is now facing serious challenges from increasingly strong competitors, including the country-backed Chinese company and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' satellite service, Project Kuiper.

Shanghai-based company SpaceSail signed an agreement to enter the Brazilian market and announced that it was in talks with more than 30 countries. Two months later, the company began its operations in Kazakhstan, according to the Kazakh Embassy in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian government is reportedly in talks with Project Kuiper and Canadian company Telesat regarding satellite-based internet services.

Since 2020, Starlink has launched more satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO) than all its combined competitors. The satellite, which operates at an altitude of less than 2,000 km, is able to transmit data very efficiently, providing high-speed internet access to remote communities, ships, and military needs on the battlefield.

However, Musk's dominance in space is considered a threat by Beijing. China is not only investing heavily in Starlink competitors, but also funding military research to develop satellite constellation monitoring tools, according to company documents and China's never-before-published academic paper.

In 2024, China launched a record 263 LEO satellites, based on data from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell analyzed by tech consultant Analysys Mason.

Brazil welcomes the emergence of Starlink competitors as the country's government wants to provide high-speed internet for communities in remote areas. However, Brazil's relations with Musk had previously been strained due to differences of opinion in trade and political affairs.

SpaceSail declined to comment on its expansion plans when contacted by Reuters. However, last year, a newspaper controlled by Chinese telecommunications regulators praised the company as "able to exceed national borders, penetrate sovereignty, and cover the entire world unconditionally... a strategic capability that our country must control."

Compared to other competitors, SpaceSail has greater ambition. The company is controlled by the Shanghai city government and plans to launch 648 LEO satellites this year and up to 15,000 satellites by 2030. In comparison, Starlink currently operates about 7,000 satellites and targets 42,000 satellites by the end of the decade.

The launch of the Space Sail satellite will later be part of the constellation Qianfan project or "Thit Sails," which is China's first step in global expansion of the satellite internet. In addition, three other Chinese satellite constellations are under development, with a planned launch of a total of 43,000 LEO satellites in the coming decades. Beijing is also investing in the development of rockets capable of carrying many satellites in one launch.

"The final goal is to fill as many orbital slots as possible available," said Chaitanya Giri, a space technology expert at the Observer Research Foundation, India.

However, China's low-Earth orbit expansion has raised concerns among Western policymakers. They fear Beijing could expand its internet censorship regime to developing countries.

A report from the American Foreign Policy Council advises Washington to step up cooperation with countries on Global South if it wants to "compete China's digital expansion seriously."

The researchers also called Qianfan's project an important part of the space component in the Belt and Road Initiative, a USD 1 trillion global infrastructure policy initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Critics consider this project to be more of a geopolitical tool for Beijing rather than a purely development project.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that while they were not specific about the expansion of China's Space Sail and LEO satellites abroad, Beijing was trying to establish space cooperation with other countries for the welfare of its people.

Space Sail itself states that it aims to provide reliable internet for more users, especially in remote areas and in emergency situations such as natural disasters.

Starlink's rapid expansion and its role in Ukraine's war have attracted the attention of military researchers, including at China's National Defense Technology University. The Chinese government is now pouring large funds into building rival satellite networks.

Hongqing Technology, a company founded in 2017 and is developing a constellation of 10,000 satellites, recently received funding of 340 million yuan from investors majority linked to the government.

Last year, SpaceSail also managed to secure funding of 6.7 billion yuan (RP 15.1 TRILLION) in a financing round led by state-owned investment funds focused on modernizing China's manufacturing industry.

Chinese researchers, including those affiliated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA), are increasingly actively developing LEO satellite technology. China published a record 2,449 patents related to the LEO satellite in 2023, a drastic increase from only 162 in 2019, according to the Anaqua's AcclaimIP database.

Most of the patents focus on developing a more cost-effective satellite network and a low latency communication system, which shows China's efforts to catch up with technology.

"The world of space is developing rapidly and a lot of experiments are underway," said Antoine Grenier, head of the global space sector at Analysys Mason. "The pioneer of this industry enjoys relative freedom and tries to secure a strategic position before regulation becomes more stringent" as in the Wild West era."

Several Chinese studies appear to be aimed directly at dealing with Starlink. One of the patent applications filed by the PLA-linked entity calls the US-owned system an important element in military reconnaissance and communications, but has also become a "threat to networks, data and military security."

Beijing is also developing a monitoring tool for the constellation Starlink satellite. In a study published in January in Chinese engineering journals, researchers from two institutes linked to the PLA said they had designed systems and algorithms to track major constellations such as Starlink. The research was inspired by the way the leap whales catch their prey by forming a circle and creating spiral bubbles.

"With the growing trend of space militarization, developing tools to monitor and track this great constellation is becoming very important," the researchers wrote.

With massive investment and global ambitions, China seems determined to rival Starlink's dominance in the satellite internet industry. The race in space is heating up.