Amazon.com (AMZN.US) executive Ricky Freeman, serving as President of Government Solutions for the Kuiper satellite project, revealed during the World Space Business Week event in Paris that the company's satellite internet project plans to provide services to the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom by the end of the first quarter of 2026. Amazon.com expects to deploy over 200 satellites in low Earth orbit by the end of 2024, having previously indicated that services would launch by the end of 2025, though specific coverage markets and timelines were not clarified at that time.
The project's core objective is to build a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites to provide network connectivity for individual users, businesses, and governments. Freeman further explained that the Kuiper project will subsequently deploy satellites covering more southern latitude regions, expanding to 26 countries by the end of 2026, and achieving equatorial region coverage by 2027.
Amazon.com also plans to complete "global coverage" by 2028, covering approximately 88 to 100 countries, including polar regions, for which additional satellites will be deployed beyond the original deployment plan. Freeman emphasized being "very satisfied with current progress," though an Amazon.com spokesperson declined to provide additional comments on his statements.
As a competing project to Elon Musk's Starlink initiative, the Kuiper project faced difficulties in increasing satellite production earlier this year due to delays from rocket manufacturers. Amazon.com has currently launched four batches of satellites, with the next batch scheduled to launch later this month.
On the commercial partnership front, JetBlue Airways announced on September 4 that it became the first airline to reach a satellite-supported in-flight Wi-Fi agreement with the Kuiper project, with both parties planning to provide passengers with airborne internet access services through Amazon.com satellites starting in 2027.
Comments