SpaceX's Starlink has finally competition

Everyone probably knows about SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications network, which already has nearly 10,000 satellites.

Globally, Starlink has over 8 million active customers, with an estimated 650,000–800,000 in Europe. In Finland, there are likely tens of thousands of Starlink customers.

However, Amazon's Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) is rapidly entering the market for high-speed internet from the sky.

The company's most recent satellite launch took place on December 16, 2025, when a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carried 27 new satellites into space. Now the company has 180 satellites in orbit. The headline image shows the rocket's payload fairing containing the satellites being transported to the launch pad.

For now, the network is not yet open to the public; it is only available to beta testers. The service is expected to open to private individuals and businesses in 2026. Amazon's goal is 3,236 satellites, a key difference from Starlink being the orbital altitude: while Starlink satellites orbit quite low, at about 550 km, Amazon Leo satellites are at 590–630 km. This gives individual satellites a larger coverage area on Earth's surface.

SpaceX's advantage is its own Falcon 9 rocket, allowing the company to launch satellites at a rapid pace. Amazon uses launch services from ULA and SpaceX, and has also ordered 18 flights from Arianespace with the Ariane 6 rocket. The first of these will take place in early 2026. Later, Amazon will also use Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket - both Amazon and Blue Origin are companies founded by Jeff Bezos.

Starlink has a massive lead in the number of satellites, users, and coverage, but Amazon Leo could become a serious challenger through its pricing and because the company is not owned by Elon Musk.

When discussing satellite constellations, it's worth remembering the European Eutelsat and its now-owned OneWeb. It already includes about 650 satellites, with which the company provides fully operational global internet.

OneWeb is less well-known, however, because European players are often overlooked, and because it does not sell its services directly to consumers but to telecom operators, governments, and companies.

A key difference between OneWeb and Starlink/Amazon Leo is the orbital altitude of the satellites: around 1,200 km. This provides very good coverage but also introduces latency, or delay, in the connection. While Starlink's typical delay is 25–45 milliseconds, OneWeb's is normally over 50 ms. OneWeb also covers northern and southern regions better.

OneWeb's advantage also lies in Eutelsat's geostationary satellites, which complement the service. Eutelsat ordered 100 new second-generation satellites in December 2024, featuring 5G integration among other improvements, with launches starting in 2026.

Satellite communications feature in several work packages of the SpacEconomy project.