China eyes orbit with 200,000 satellites

In December 2025, China submitted a request to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to allocate frequencies and orbital positions for more than 200,000 satellites. The scope of this initiative indicates the country's intention to compete in the satellite internet market, which is currently dominated by SpaceX's Starlink.

Cryptopolitan reports on this initiative.

Will China be able to launch 200,000 satellites and catch up with Starlink?

According to Shanghai Securities News, China submitted documents to the ITU last month covering radio frequencies and orbital parameters for one of the world's largest satellite projects. However, submitting the documents does not automatically guarantee the launch of all the satellites. The materials must undergo ITU procedures and be approved by the involved countries.

The Radio Innovation Institute was officially established on December 30, 2025, in the Xiong'an New Area. It plays a key role in submitting the largest packages of documents. The institute receives state support and specializes in radio technologies.

Its applications include requests for more than twelve satellite constellations, ranging from small networks of a few satellites to large-scale ones. The two largest projects, CTC-1 and CTC-2, were submitted by the institute and each involves 96,714 satellites.

Other market participants have submitted separate packages of documents. For instance, China Mobile intends to launch a CHINAMOBILE-L1 network comprising 2,520 satellites. Yuanxin Satellite has announced plans for 1,296 satellites for the SAILSPACE-1 network, and Guodian Gaoke has proposed 1,132 satellites for the TIANQI-3G system. These various applicants demonstrate the involvement of commercial entities and traditional government organizations.

Experts emphasize that registering with the ITU is only the first step. Registration does not guarantee production capacity, rocket launchers, or financing for deploying such numerous satellites. Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will take years and require enormous resources.

Meanwhile, market observers speculate that the Radio Innovation Institute could accelerate the process by concentrating resources, coordinating with industry participants, and leveraging its large domestic market and robust production base. This could theoretically reduce the gap with SpaceX, which already has thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit and provides internet services to clients in various countries.

Read more:

• Walker S2 humanoid robots enter mass deployment in China
• The world's first wooden satellite was launched into space