As my wife and I have been settling into our new home, both of us working remotely now, one thing has become abundantly clear.

We could use better internet.

So the race is on. The first service to make it out here that can provide gigabit speed will be the first to get my money.

Don’t get me wrong. As one of the estimated 60 million Americans who live in rural or remote areas, I’d say that what we currently have is actually pretty good. Especially when you consider how remote we are (the road to our house is not even paved, after all). But after years of blazing-fast internet in the city, it sure would be nice to have the same quality, low-latency service out here.

I’ve done my fair share of research, and it looks like help is on the way. I’m not particular, either, so long as it’s not one of the current satellite internet providers, which charge you an arm and a leg for service and have caps on the amount of data you can use. In other words, not exactly ideal for streaming and Zoom calls.

Our current provider has announced that new fiber lines are being laid as we speak and could be available as soon as the end of the year. The major cellphone carriers are deploying 5G coverage, too, offering internet gateway devices that make connections simple and fast… as soon as they’re available in our area.

I’ve Got My Eye On Starlink (For More Reasons Than One…)

Then, of course, there’s Starlink. The service, a division of Elon Musk’s private space venture, SpaceX, offers internet service through a constellation of low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. And it, too, should be available in our area soon.

According to SpaceXStats, Starlink currently has more than 2,100 satellites in orbit. That’s up from about 1,440 around this time last year. You can see the astounding growth rate in satellites deployed by SpaceX in the chart below (which shows data through March).

_{Source: Statista}

And there will be many more to come. The goal is for about 4,400 satellites to be in orbit for the constellation to be “complete”. That means Starlink will be able to provide worldwide coverage, possibly later this year.

Starlink already has about 250,000 subscribers. So it has a first-mover advantage in this particular corner of the burgeoning space race. But the total addressable market we’re talking about here is huge, especially if Starlink can compete with traditional broadband internet providers in terms of speed and price. And that’s not even accounting for the estimated 2.9 billion people without internet access worldwide, according to the International Communication Union.

Amazon Enters The Space Race

Not to be outdone, Amazon is getting in on the action, too. The global e-commerce giant announced this week that it is ramping up planned launches for its fleet of satellites.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, the service, dubbed Project Kuiper, has secured up to 83 new launches in partnership with other companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Blue Origin, the private space company started by Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon has big ambitions for space, yet you would hardly hear anybody talk about it until this latest announcement. The company plans to launch a network of 3,236 LEO satellites to provide worldwide internet service in the coming years.

According to the plan, approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020, Amazon will launch half of those satellites by 2026.

And before you count Amazon out for not getting a head start on SpaceX, remember that this is a huge addressable market, so there is plenty of room in this sandbox.

Also, as the Journal points out, Amazon is taking a different tack with its plan by focusing on partnerships. Aside from partnering on launches, Project Kuiper has also made deals with Verizon (as well as a Japanese telecom) to use its satellite links to extend the coverage of Verizon’s networks to reach rural and remote areas.

The Future (And Profits) Lie In Space

My colleague Jimmy Butts has been on this beat for a while now. He’s been telling his premium Capital Wealth Letter readers that just as practically every company today is a technology company (in one way or another), the companies of tomorrow will all be space companies.

Think about that for a second. We’re talking about an entirely new space race. A private space race led (and funded) by billionaires, innovative startups, and the world’s largest companies. That means, in addition to offering worldwide, ultra-fast internet, you’re going to soon be hearing about a whole host of applications that will change our lives in ways we can’t even predict yet.

Last year set a record for space infrastructure investments in 2021, with $14.5 billion deployed through private investments, which was a 50% increase over 2020.

In total, analysts at Bank of America project that trillions of dollars will flow into the space industry in the coming years. Morgan Stanley estimates “the global space industry could generate revenue of more than $1 trillion or more in 2040, up from $350 billion currently.”

Heavyweights like Amazon and Microsoft are already quietly working on their space ambitions. And billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson are getting in on the race, too.

As Jimmy pointed out to his readers, there are not many industries left that we haven’t begun to exploit for profits. But right now, all the “smart” money is betting on the space industry.

It’s no wonder then, that Goldman Sachs calls it the “Next Investment Frontier.”

Jimmy and his research team have spent months researching this game-changing opportunity. So if you want to know how this “billionaire space race” will play out, and how early investors can strike it rich, then you should check out his latest report right now.