Starlink Snub: Brazil Signs Deal With Musk's Chinese Competitor To Provide Internet Service

China's low-Earth orbit satellite company SpaceSail, positioning itself as a rival to Elon Musk's Starlink, inked a deal with a Brazilian telecommunications group to provide satellite internet services in the South American country, according to reports.

The agreement with Brazilian state telecom Telebras came Wednesday as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at his presidential residence in Brasilia, Reuters reported.

SpaceSail will work with Telebras to provide broadband internet services and satellite communications to Brazil's "remote and underserved regions," Chinese state media reported. The service is expected to go live in 2026.

Low-Earth orbit satellites operate at altitudes between 186 and 1,240 miles and have the advantage of being cheaper and providing more efficient transmissions than satellites at higher orbits, Reuters reported.

SpaceSail, which launched in 2023, plans to have more than 600 satellites in orbit by the end of 2025 and double that by 2027.

SpaceX's Starlink, which has more than 6,000 satellites in space, controls 47% of Brazil's satellite internet market.

The agreement between Brazil and China comes after the country's Supreme Court put a temporary freeze on Starlink amid a dispute with Musk over disinformation on his X social media platform.