In a strategic move to expand its influence in Latin America, China's SpaceSail is set to launch a satellite internet service that will compete directly with Elon Musk's Starlink. The nascent company, less than two years old, has recently announced a partnership with Brazilian telecommunications firm Telebras to provide satellite communication and broadband internet services.
The Brazilian government has stated that both companies will assess demand in areas lacking fiber-optic infrastructure, aiming to roll out the service by 2026. SpaceSail's CEO Jie Zheng expressed the company's commitment to becoming a long-term partner in Brazil.
This partnership comes amid deteriorating relations between the Brazilian government and Musk, particularly over controversies surrounding misinformation on social media. Musk's refusal to comply with Brazilian court orders to remove accounts promoting extremist content led to a temporary ban on the X platform in the country.
Starlink, which controls nearly half of the satellite internet market in Brazil, has faced scrutiny and penalties for its association with X, ultimately leading Musk to agree to remove the problematic accounts.
SpaceSail, backed by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), plans to expedite its satellite deployment, targeting 15,000 low-Earth orbit satellites by 2030. The company successfully launched its first batch of 18 satellites in August, followed by another launch in October.
Despite its ambitions, SpaceSail remains small compared to Starlink, which has over 6,000 satellites currently in orbit and aims to expand to 42,000 satellites by 2027. Starlink has already produced over a million user terminals, offering broadband internet speeds of 50-150 Mbps, with some areas reaching up to 175 Mbps.