Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company’s Leo satellite internet service, previously known as Project Kuiper, is expected to launch in mid-2026. In his annual letter to shareholders, he added that Leo aims to offer download speeds up to 1 Gbps. Starlink, by comparison, typically delivers between 45 Mbps and 280 Mbps. Jassy didn’t specify whether the mid-2026 target includes availability for consumers.
What is clear is that select enterprise customers began testing the high-speed satellite service late last year. Delta Air Lines and JetBlue have already agreed to use Leo for in-flight Wi-Fi, while other partners include AT&T, Vodafone, DirecTV Latin America, and NASA.
Whenever Leo reaches consumers, Amazon says it could offer several advantages over Starlink. The company claims uplink performance six to eight times faster than rivals, along with roughly double the download speeds. Amazon also says the service will be more affordable and include native AWS integration for enterprise storage, analytics, and AI workloads.
Despite those claimed advantages, Leo may take time to scale into a Musk-free satellite internet alternative. The constellation remains behind schedule, with only 241 satellites in orbit, compared with more than 10,000 for Starlink.
In January, Amazon asked the Federal Communications Commission for more time to meet a July 2026 deadline requiring 1,600 satellites in orbit. The company said it expected to have only about 700 operational by then.
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