Amazon's Starlink competitor to launch beta in 2026
Amazon CEO Andy Jesse confirmed that the Project Kuiper satellite internet service is planned to launch in commercial beta later this year or early 2026. It will be available not only in the US.
Amazon CEO Andy Jesse confirmed that the Project Kuiper satellite internet service is planned to launch in commercial beta later this year or early 2026. It will be available not only in the US.
Jesse noted strong interest from corporate and government clients during the announcement of Amazon’s second-quarter financial results.
«We’re working very hard to get satellites into space. We’re having some delays with some rocket suppliers, but we have most of the rocket launches available for the next few years», — the Amazon chief said.
Without directly mentioning Elon’s SpaceX’s Starlink, Jesse said that after Kuiper launches, there will be «two players» with cutting-edge technology in the LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite sector. He emphasized that Kuiper will stand out with its speed and a pricing model that will be «very attractive to customers».
Amazon noted that its standard client terminal will offer download speeds of up to 400 Mbps, and the corporate version will offer up to 1 Gbps.
Jesse also emphasized the importance of Kuiper’s integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), especially for enterprise and government users.
«If you think about businesses and governments, a lot of what they want to do when they get data from space is put it in the cloud for analysis, analytics, artificial intelligence and various operations based on it», — he said.
He added that Kuiper has already signed an «impressive» number of deals with corporate and government customers. Jesse emphasized that the seamless connection between Kuiper and AWS is «very attractive to enterprises and governments».
One of these deals is currently known — Amazon has signed a contract with NBN Co, the operator of Australia’s National Broadband Network. It is noted that Project Kuiper could be operational in Australia in mid-2026.
Amazon has launched only 78 satellites out of a planned 3,200. The company plans to have about half of its constellation launched by mid-2026, but that seems unlikely given the schedule delays. That puts it well behind Starlink, which has already launched more than 8,000 satellites.
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Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites to compete with Starlink
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