Amazon's satellite internet service is ready for launch
What's the story
Amazon has announced that its low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, dubbed Amazon Leo, is now prepared to provide internet services. The announcement comes after the successful launch of the company's 396th satellite into orbit. Chris Weber, VP heading up business and product for Amazon Leo, said that the current number of satellites is enough to provide continuous service across initial latitudes.
Launch timeline
Amazon's approach similar to SpaceX's
The recent development puts Amazon on course to meet its target of launching the satellite internet service by mid-2026. However, Weber cautioned that users shouldn't expect immediate results. The company plans to improve performance and capacity with more satellite launches in the future. This strategy is similar to SpaceX's approach when it launched its "Better than nothing beta" for Starlink in 2020 with nearly 900 satellites already in orbit.
Performance comparison
SpaceX's Starlink currently leads satellite internet market
SpaceX currently operates over 10,000 Starlink satellites, providing internet connectivity across land, sea, and air in over 160 countries. The service offers median download speeds of around 200Mbps and uploads between 10-40Mbps with latency around 25ms. Amazon's Leo service still has a long way to go before it can match such performance numbers. The company plans to launch a total of 3,232 Leo satellites as part of its project.