Photo: Amazon tribal residents install Starlink. \Internet photo

Since SpaceX first launched the Starlink satellite in 2019, it has launched more than 6,600 satellites into orbit. According to a report by the network company Cloudflare, Starlink has seen the largest increase in network traffic in Brazil, increasing 17.5 times from 2022 to 2023. Starlink accounts for more than 90% of the satellite network market in the Amazon region, and is the only choice in very remote areas.

However, other companies are also eyeing this “barren land” of the Internet. According to estimates by the World Bank, about 200 million people in the region have poor Internet access, with little or no access to the Internet. On June 13, Amazon officially announced its entry into the South American satellite network market, teaming up with telecommunications company Vrio to provide satellite Internet services to users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, directly challenging Starlink. Amazon launched the “Project Kuiper” satellite network plan as early as 2019, with a planned investment of US$10 billion (approximately HK$78 billion).