The rebranding of Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo was announced earlier this month, and there has been a new website marketing the service. The name underscores the fact that the company will be dealing with low Earth orbit, in which its satellite constellation will be functioning. Amazon has six years of developing this system, and the company intends to have 3,236 satellites to provide high-speed, low-latency internet to consumers, businesses, and government agencies.
Amazon Leo prepares for wider rollout
Since April, Amazon has already deployed over 150 satellites with the help of rockets provided by such partners as United Launch Alliance and SpaceX. The company is establishing Leo as a direct rival of Starlink, which has close to 9000 satellites and is the leading player in the market at present. Amazon is also dispatching its higher-priced “Ultra” antennas and its “Pro” terminals to those registered in its preview program to acquire enterprise clientele.
Ultra antenna promises faster speeds
The Ultra model’s final production design was unveiled on Monday. It provides a download of up to 1 Gbps and an upload speed of up to 400 Mbps fuelled by an Amazon-designed silicon chip. It is the fastest commercial phased-array antenna currently being manufactured by the company. According to Amazon, the enterprise preview will grow as additional Leo satellites are launched, which will cover more and allow more capacity.
Although Amazon has already entered into agreements with JetBlue, L3Harris or Australia-based network NBN, it is yet to provide information on how consumers would be charged and when it would be available. According to the company, such announcements will be made when the company fully launches the commercial version.