SpaceSail, a Chinese low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite company, has signed an agreement to enter the Brazilian market. The signing took place during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent state visit to the capital, Brasilia.
SpaceSail signed a memorandum with state-owned operator Telebras to provide satellite communications and broadband internet services to Brazil. The companies will reportedly study demand in areas not served by fibre optic infrastructure. A service is expected to go live in 2026. Reuters says the agreement marks the start of SpaceSail's overseas business.
SpaceSail is developing high-speed internet services through low Earth orbit satellites described by the company as “the Thousand Sails Constellation, a giant low-orbit satellite constellation adopting a full-frequency-band, multilayer and multi-orbit design”. It’s not alone. Indeed, China currently has about 1,059 satellites in orbit, of which just under half are commercial satellites. And a number of Chinese private and state-owned firms have plans for mega-constellations of thousands of LEO satellites each.
It is estimated that, at the moment, Starlink controls almost half the satellite internet market in the country. Brazil claims therefore that it is trying to offer society more telecommunications options, especially in remote areas.
However, recent arguments between Starlink and the Brazilian authorities may also have motivated the latest deal.
The agreement took place not long after a dispute between Brazil's Supreme Court and social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which led to a temporarily freeze on the bank accounts of Starlink in the country. Both X and Starlink are owned by Elon Musk.
Musk refused to obey court orders to take down accounts that were allegedly promoting extremist content on X, resulting in the platform’s temporary ban in the country. Starlink was forced to pay fines on behalf of X, as regulators warned it risked losing its licence if it did not comply with court rulings. Musk ultimately agreed to remove the offending accounts.
However, as the UK’s Financial Times news service reported, there have been further incidents since then, including a row during the G20 summit between the Brazilian president’s wife and Musk.
SpaceSail has a reported goal of 15,000 spacecraft in low Earth orbit by 2030. It launched its first round of 18 satellites in August; more followed in October.
