E-commerce giant Amazon has secured nine satellite launch vehicles from United Launch Alliance to support the initial deployment of its broadband internet initiative, Project Kuiper.

The Atlas V launch vehicles from ULA, a joint rocket venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is the first of many vehicles which will be used to deploy Amazon’s satellite constellation to orbit.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a planned network of more than 3000 satellites that will provide high-speed internet from space, faces stiff competition from the Starlink network by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Amazon says it will invest more than US$10 billion to build a network of 3236 satellites.