Galway Bay fm newsroom - Abbeyknockmoy business man Declan Ganley is set to take on Elon Musk and Amazon in the space satellite race.
His Rivada Networks group plans to launch a major new system of 600 space satellites connected to lasers to provide global broadband.
According to the Irish Times, Rivada announced its plans at Satellite 2022, a major industry conference underway in Washington DC.
It said the rollout of the satellite system would take place between 2024 and 2028 - and will involve 600 low-earth orbit satellites 1,000km above the earth.
Rivada believes it'll rival Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon's Koyper space satellite systems.
It comes as the firm acquired majority control of Trion Space, a Lichenstein company that owns a license for the spectrum band needed for the project.
After Trion last year ran into difficulties, Rivada stepped in to acquire an 85 percent stake from the previous consortium.
Abbeyknockmoy businessman Declan Ganley says the previous owners wanted the project to be in "good hands" - and his firm wants to tear down the barriers to entry and build an open access system.
