in more areas, although whether that actually bears out for consumers remains to be seen. Mahdi Eslamimehr, executive vice president at Quandary Peak Research and adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science at USC, said Amazon is well poised to go up against Starlink. "Amazon has made extensive launch agreements with major providers such as United Launch Alliance (ULA), Arianespace, Blue Origin, and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as a major challenger due to its expansive infrastructure and significant resources." He said, "While Starlink currently enjoys clear market leadership, it faces increasing competition from well-capitalized and strategically agile competitors, specifically from China, suggesting the market will become considerably more competitive in the near future." Amazon's satellite efforts so far, Eslamimehr said, have been promising and successful, at least in the prototype stages. The company has also been testing Amazon Web Services in space. "These developments collectively underscore Amazon's robust entry into the satellite internet market and reflect positive early momentum in its overall space strategy." Beyond how it fares against Starlink and other companies, the Amazon satellite launches are significant in other ways. Eslamimehr said, "Project Kuiper isn't just about competition; it's positioned as a critical step toward closing the global digital divide, promising to deliver high-speed internet to underserved communities worldwide." Correction, April 4: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the USC professor and Quandary Peak Research exec. His name is Mahdi Eslamimehr. Your guide