Starlink rival Taara unveils the Beam promising 25Gbps internet using light

Former Alphabet moonshot startup Taara has debuted the Taara Beam, a compact device designed to transmit high-speed broadband over the air. By using near-infrared light, this projector-sized hardware aims to bring fiber-tier speeds to both remote and urban areas, entirely bypassing the high costs and logistical hurdles of laying physical optical cables.

The new device is pretty fast, transmitting up to 25Gbps of internet data over distances up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Despite this power, it weighs just 17 pounds and features a highly compact design. Deployment is remarkably rapid, as the device can be installed in hours on cell towers, poles, or building rooftops without requiring trenching, spectrum licensing, or right-of-way permits. This flexibility makes it an ideal solution for rural areas, urban rooftops, enterprise campuses, data center clusters, and event venues.

While it draws natural comparisons to SpaceX’s Starlink as a remote connectivity solution, Taara operates on a business-to-business model. The company plans to sell the tech directly to internet service providers and mobile carriers rather than marketing it to individual consumers.

Thanks to a newly developed chip, the Beam is 50% smaller than Taara’s previous Lightbridge device, which weighed 29 pounds. While the new Beam offers faster throughput at 25Gbps compared to Lightbridge's 20Gbps, it does trade off some distance, maxing out at a 10km range versus Lightbridge's 20km. Fortunately, the two systems can easily be integrated to blanket a neighborhood or city with high-speed internet.

Historically, over-the-air optical beams are vulnerable to inclement weather, such as heavy fog. To address this, Taara recently announced its companion Lightbridge Pro system, which promises a highly reliable 99.999% uptime regardless of the forecast. Taara will showcase its new lineup at next week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona as it looks to attract enterprise customers, though official pricing for the Taara Beam has not yet been announced.