SpaceX has asked the U.S. government for permission to start testing on a project that intends to beam Internet service from space. CEO Elon Musk has said the effort "would be like rebuilding the Internet in space," according to The Washington Post (via MSN Money). The ambitious task would create major competition for companies like Comcast and AT&T.
Musk's plan includes launching a constellation of 4,000 small, cheap satellites that would send high-speed Internet signals to all parts of the world, including the most remote regions, taking SpaceX from rocket company to high-speed internet provider with billions of first-time customers.
Bill Gates had the same dream in the 1990s, but Musk has his own rocket - the Falcon 9 - and a swarm of small satellites that would be less expensive to replace that the older clunkers cast into space by Dish Network and DirecTV. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg wanted to bring the internet to the world, but the company recently scrapped plans to build its $500 million satellite. Richard Branson has reportedly saddled up with a company called OneWeb that has similar goals, but the Federal Communications Commission filing late last month is the first look at what Musk has brewing.
Back in January, SpaceX announced that Google and Fidelity invested $1 billion, a portion of which has been earmarked for the space internet venture, according to The Next Web. In the FCC filing, Musk proposed that testing could start next year and the service could be ready in about five years.
