SpaceX Reportedly Says Spectrum of Strong Weapons From Rivals Wanting to Ride a Rocket

SpaceX started as a company that built reusable rockets in hopes of lowering the cost of getting into space. They succeeded in that, and many customers including NASA now rely on SpaceX to send them cargo into space. And now it uses its own satellite Internet service, Starlink. But Starlink has its competitors, even if none have come close to its success — Amazon, for example, has been working a little harder to roll out its network. Those competitors need rockets to put their satellites into space, and there aren’t many options other than SpaceX and New Zealand’s Rocket Lab. Amazon, for example, will use SpaceX to get its Kuiper satellites into orbit.

That creates an obvious potential conflict of interest: SpaceX has something the competitor desperately needs, so what will they do to get it?

In accordance with The Wall Street JournalSpaceX customers sometimes have to give up certain concessions on the spectrum, a valuable but limited area of ​​the air where they can bring the Internet down. Governments cut radio waves and sell them for billions of dollars; and they help mediate between different users to minimize disruption.

According to the Journalin 2022 SpaceX asked rival OneWeb to enter into an agreement for its use at the same time as they were in negotiations to launch its satellites. This could mean different things, but satellite companies often operate within the same frequency range and SpaceX wanted OneWeb to adjust its operations to minimize interference. OneWeb confirmed that the spectrum deal had been made but told the media that it was not involved in the launch negotiations.

Another company, Canadian company Kepler Communications, is counting on SpaceX to launch 16 of its 23 satellites into space for a network it expects to be used primarily for space communications. It is reported that the Canadian government has had to intervene in the resolution of the dispute over the allocation of SpaceX there.

Earlier this month, the government added Starlink satellites to the list of foreign satellites allowed to operate in Canada, opening up SpaceX to provide the service in the country. The two still need to coordinate sharing airwaves.

It is unclear what would have happened if Kepler or OneWeb refused to cooperate with SpaceX’s demands. In the article, the Journal notes that SpaceX leaders have said internally that they feel they can serve the needs of both Starlink and foreign customers. But even so, satellite companies hope to see more rocket companies compete with SpaceX.

In many cases, spinning off Starlink and making it independent would reduce anti-competitive concerns. Unfortunately, we know that Musk likes to combine his various businesses, such as when he sends engineers from Tesla to Twitter to do free work. And when Nvidia gave Tesla more than $500 million worth of AI chipsets, Musk stepped in and asked the chipmaker to prioritize X and xAI instead. As long as Musk owns shares in Starlink, it’s hard to see the company not acquiring SpaceX first.