SpaceX’s near rocket market monopoly is ‘big concern’: Lazard bankers

PARIS – A Lazard investment banker sounded the alarm about the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the rocket launch market as the industry waits for U.S. rivals to start flying new vehicles.

“I think this is a big problem,” said Vikram Nidamaluri, managing director of telecommunications, media and entertainment at Lazard, during a panel discussion at the World Satellite Business Week conference on Monday.

“Having such a dominant launch vehicle provider is probably not good for the commercial prospects of the industry in general,” Nidamaluri added. “Nobody wants a monopoly to cut off a point in the value chain. There are obviously other players increasing their capacity, but I think the schedule has not moved quickly enough.”

Nidamaluri echoed concerns about a rocket launch monopoly raised by others in the space industry this year. Rocket launches pose a potential bottleneck in transporting valuable satellites, spacecraft and astronauts in orbit. Several other U.S. companies are working to launch competitors for SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon rockets, but delays are leaving American rivals struggling to get operational ones Bringing next-generation rockets to market.

A few days ago, SpaceX launched its 63rd mission of 2023 – and the company has already surpassed last year’s record of 61 missions, despite averaging one launch every four days. Beyond the U.S. rocket market, SpaceX is a global leader in both launches and quarterly mass delivery of spacecraft to orbit. The company alone keeps the US ahead of China, the next largest geopolitical competitor, in satellite and astronaut launches.

SpaceX Vice President Tom Ochinero responded to Nidamaluri’s concerns during a separate panel at World Satellite Business Week on Monday, framing them as whether the rocket maker would let rival satellites fly to its Starlink satellite internet service.

“We have proven that, yes we will,” Ochinero said. “We are a carrier company first and foremost, we are here to offer product launches.”

While Starlink is clearly SpaceX’s “large internal customer,” Ochinero noted that the company has moved launches for its own satellites “out of the way when necessary to accommodate launches for both competitors and customers.” SpaceX recently signed a contract to launch 14 missions for Canadian operator Telesat to put its Lightspeed internet satellites into orbit, and has previously launched satellites for other Starlink communications competitors such as OneWeb, ViasatAnd EchoStar.

“I’m not too worried about it – we’re here to start,” Ochinero said

Tory Bruno, CEO of the United Launch Alliance, dismissed the idea that SpaceX has full control of the launch market on the same panel. ULA, historically the second-largest U.S. rocket competitor, has completed just two launches so far in 2023 and is working toward the first launch of its next-generation Vulcan rocket in the coming months.

“I appreciate the feeling of that [SpaceX] “It’s going to be a benevolent monopoly, I don’t think you’re a monopoly and I don’t think it’s our plan for you to be one,” Bruno said.