The two richest people in the world, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, will compete throughout this year in the Spanish satellite broadband business. Furthermore, both magnates will coincide in the same market segment: low-price Internet access in rural areas. The first offensive was carried out last fall by Starlink, from the same owner of Tesla, SpaceX and the social network specially designed to provide connectivity in remote locations, where fiber optic deployment cannot reach.
Musk’s company uses the “largest and most advanced constellation of low orbit satellites in the world,” according to the company itself. In addition to the price, the ease of installation is one of its main attractions, since all you have to do is hire the service to put it into action in three simple steps: download the application, Connect the antenna kit to the mains and point it at a clear patch of skywithout contracts or long-term commitments. In the face of Musk’s aggressive proposal, Jeff Bezos follows in his wake with an offer that will reach the Spanish and Latin American market in the coming months thanks to Amazon Kuiper.
For now, this company already has authorization from the Ministry for Digital Transformation for the use of satellite frequencies over Spanish airspace during the next five years, according to the specialized portal banchaancha.eu. The same media specifies that Amazon Kuiper will locate the first installation in the city of Santander, although Bezos’ company will require a second administrative procedure for the use of the spectrum for end users of the network of 3,236 low-altitude LEO satellites, compared to the more than 6,000 of Starlink.
Amazon sources specify that the Leo satellites orbit between 590 and 630 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, close to those of Starlink (550 kilometers), but 60 times closer than geostationary satellites (36,000 kilometers), as is the case of the Amazon. Nexus of Hispasat, with the participation of other Spanish companies such as Thales Alenia Space Spain, Sener, GMV or Aicox. The proximity to the Earth allows low orbit satellites to offer latencies of 70 milliseconds, compared to 240 milliseconds for geostationary satellites.
Amazon will market its products in Spain three antenna modelss: the ultra-compact receiver, with speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps), 45 centimeters in diameter and 450 grams in weight; the standard model, with speeds of 400 Mbps, 71 centimeters in diameter and 1.27 kilos in weight; and the business range, with connectivity of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps) with a surface area of ​​48 by 76 centimeters.
Compared to the American proposals, the Spanish satellite companies Hispasat, Sateliot or Telespazio Ibérica have been offering similar services since the summer of 2023, with subsidized prices thanks to the connect35 program. Broadly speaking, this public initiative combats the geographical digital divide with a maximum price for the user of 35 euros per month (including taxes), since the service provided by Hispasat to the retail operator is estimated at 16.68 euros per month (without taxes) per customer, with speeds of 200 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstreame, maximum average latencies of 690 milliseconds, without permanence obligations and with the guarantee of these advantageous conditions until December 2027.
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