Declan Ganley’s company, Rivada Networks, is developing a technology that may revolutionize global connectivity and security—and it appears that the Chinese communist regime is desperately seeking to gain control of it. As much as 99 percent of global internet traffic today relies on a series of subsea fiber-optic cables around the world that are vulnerable to natural disasters and attacks. Chinese cable-cutting incidents have shown how easily they can be sabotaged. Ganley is working on something called the Outernet, a constellation of 600 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites that would make up the world’s first self-contained communications network. Unlike traditional satellite networks that route data back to Earth repeatedly, the satellites are interlinked by high-speed lasers and advanced onboard routers, making it possible for data to travel directly through space, touching the Earth only at the start and the final destination. But progress has been slow. Why? Ganley refused to partner with Chinese companies on the project. “They decided to launch a torrent, a tsunami of lawsuits that were baseless, that were unwinnable, that were almost cartoonish in their flakiness—but in the full knowledge that we would have to spend money to defend against these insane lawsuits,” he says. So far, he and his company have already had to spend $36 million to defend against a flurry of lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions. Nonetheless, he believes it’s a battle worth fighting. “I know what the Outernet can do. I would rather burn it down than have the Communist Party of China have the Outernet. Our way of life could depend on them not having the Outernet,” Ganley said. Ganley was one of the very early voices warning about the dangers of Chinese technology in Western telecommunications networks: “I know how dumb governments are. I saw them implement policies and regulations that allowed Huawei and China to dominate the global wireless industry and literally deploy 5G networks in Western democracies.” “We have absolutely handed them data network dominance on a plate, and now they want this Outernet. Why do they want it? Because they want the fastest network in the world, the lowest latency network in the world, the most secure network in the world,” Ganley added. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
