A few newcomers into space businesses have submitted their applications to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch 38,000 satellites that will be able to provide internet service to homes located in what's known as the V-band spectrum.
The companies are Astra, Amazon, Inmarsat, SpinLaunch, Intelsat, and the legacy incumbents Hughes, Boeing, Telesat, and OneWeb.
This is a complete space grab. This is an entirely new kind of space-based race. It all goes back to SpaceX and its Starlink project. Elon Musk has proven his genius once more.
The older satellites that connected homes to the internet operated within the C-band frequency spectrum. This lower-frequency spectrum required large and clumsy satellite dishes to do their job.
However, the issue of operating in the lower frequency of the C-band is that bandwidth is limited. The result is that the speeds are slow, and performance is average.
The problem when using higher frequencies is that they are more vulnerable to external elements like weather. We need to find more high-tech solutions to make higher frequency systems function.
That is why we've not witnessed service providers for satellite broadband operating at the V-band higher frequency before. No one had extrapolated out the physics of dealing with problems at these frequencies before - up until SpaceX.
SpaceX has launched into space more than 1,800 satellites to provide home internet services within V-band frequencies. SpaceX has already applied to the FCC for up to 30,000 more satellites as part of the Starlink constellation project.
Hence, SpaceX has proven that its technology can work with satellite internet with higher frequencies. Also, Wall Street is drooling over the possibility of investing in Starlink, which is slated to spin-off from SpaceX in the coming years.
The valuation of around $30 billion has been discussed. The news has drawn the business community's attention; that's why many companies are now applying for a spectrum called V-band.
In a nutshell, Musk once again did what everyone else thought could not be accomplished. Today, competitors are beginning to see how important SpaceX and its Starlink configuration of the constellation are. They are also clamoring to be part of the game.
However, here is the fact: SpaceX is several years ahead of its competitors. It also creates new satellites almost every month, even twice per month. In my opinion, it's going to be difficult for competitors to keep with it.
But it will be entertaining watching this exciting space race unfold. It proves how vital SpaceX and Starlink's plan is - Let's watch this unfolding for the future investment possibility.