AMAZON'S satellite internet service has reached a big milestone in its attempt to take on Elon Musk's Starlink.
Billionaires are turning to the skies to beam broadband to people's homes from above.
Musk, 53, has so far led the way with more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in the sky.
The SpaceX-operated service has been used by Ukraine to maintain communications in the war against Russia.
Starlink has even started signing deals with mobile networks starting with T-Mobile in the US.
More recently, Musk announced that Starlink will allow free calls to emergency services.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, 60, has similar space ambitions and the two billionaires have been competing over Nasa contracts to fly to Mars.
But where satellite internet is concerned, Bezos' Project Kuiper has so far lagged behind.
The company hasn't launched any into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) yet, except for two prototypes in November last year.
Project Kuiper is preparing to blast more than 3,000 satellites into space.
One of the biggest hurdles is regulatory approval.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already granted Amazon permission to launch those 3,236 satellites across five phases.
However, the firm wil also need permission to operate in other countries as well.
And in a big milestone, it appears the UK's Ofcom regulator is prepared to give the go-ahead too, it's been revealed today.
"Our preliminary view is that we will grant an NGSO [non-geostationary orbit] network licence to Kuiper, having considered the technical coexistence and competition impacts of its NGSO system on existing and future NGSO systems and other spectrum services operating in the same frequencies," Ofcom said.
While it's a big step forward Amazon isn't cleared to go just yet.
Ofcom is now seeking feedback as part of a consultation that will run until October 4.
But experts at believe it's "highly unlikely" the regulator will reject it.
There could be some opposition from astronomers who have already complained that too many satellites are ruining the night sky view.
They say the huge growth in satellites is obstructing telescopic space exploration.
"Astronomers are the canaries in the coal mine for this rapidly expanding experiment in orbit: we see these satellites increasingly affecting our research every day," said Samantha Lawler, Associate professor, Astronomy at University of Regina.
"I have watched over the past five years as satellite streaks in my own research images from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have changed from an unusual occurrence to lost data in nearly every image."
Data according to Forbes, published on 06/09/2024
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