Starlink – part of Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX (which is 40% owned by Elon Musk) – also offers internet and phone services to individual customers, while Blue Origin says TeraWave will be focused on data centres, businesses and governments.

Blue Origin said its network, at its fastest, would allow upload and download speeds of as much as 6 terabits per second, much faster than rival commercial satellite services currently offer.

Another competitor to TeraWave is Amazon, the technology giant that made Bezos a multi-billionaire. He is still Amazon’s executive chairman after stepping down in 2021 as its chief executive.

Amazon’s satellite venture is called Leo. While it currently has around 180 satellites in orbit, having launched dozens more just last week, it plans to have more than 3,000 in orbit.

Like Starlink, Amazon is also more focused on the general public than businesses and governments, pitching Leo as a way to offer high-speed internet access globally. It has not said when all of the Leo satellites will be in orbit.

In November, the company successfully landed a rocket booster on a floating platform for the first time. Only SpaceX had previously accomplished that feat.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..