Amazon Plans Satellite Broadband For "Tens Of Millions" Of People

Amazon has confirmed its intention to launch thousands of low-Earth-orbit satellites to provide broadband and low-latency broadband service around the world.

Details about the Kuiper project of Amazon appeared in documents filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and in an article published today by GeekWire.

Amazon confirmed the Kuiper project in a statement to GeekWire. When we made contact with Ars, Amazon provided us with the same statement but stated that it would be "premature" to answer our specific questions about rates, pricing and service availability.

"The Kuiper Project is a new initiative to launch a low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation that will provide low-latency, low-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserviced communities around the world," said Amazon. in his press release. "This is a long-term project that aims to serve tens of millions of people who do not have access to basic broadband Internet access. We look forward to partnering with you." to this initiative with companies sharing this common vision. "

As written by GeekWire, the documents deposited with the ITU "plan to place 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit, including 784 satellites at an altitude of 590 km, and 1,296 satellites at an altitude of 610 km and 1,156 satellites in 391-mile orbits (630 km). "

The documents were filed last month by the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of the company Kuiper Systems LLC of Amazon. This is one of the first steps for Amazon, which still needs approval from the FCC and regulators in other countries.

According to GeekWire, Amazon confirmed that the satellites "would provide data coverage on the Earth from 56 degrees north to 56 degrees south," an area that covers about 95 percent of the world's population.

In contrast to today's extremely fast satellite broadband services, low Earth orbit satellites are expected to provide services with a latency as low as 25 ms, similar to cable or fiber systems.

Years of process to come

It would be difficult to predict an availability date for Amazon's broadband service, given the slow pace of the regulatory process.

SpaceX filed an application for FCC approval of its satellite broadband constellation in November 2016. SpaceX has made significant progress with regulators, obtaining FCC approval to deploy until the end of the year. 11,943 broadband satellites. Two months ago, SpaceX asked the FCC to approve up to 1 million earth stations that would be used by end-users to access the network. SpaceX hopes to offer an Internet service from 2020 but has not yet confirmed the availability date.

OneWeb, another company that plans a large satellite network, launched its first six satellites in Earth orbit in February as test units and plans to provide broadband access worldwide by 2021. Last year, SpaceX launched two test satellites.

The FCC has also approved requests from Space Norway and Telesat to offer broadband in the United States from satellites in low Earth orbit. Facebook is another company that plans to launch broadband satellites.

Like other satellite operators, Amazon will have to provide detailed plans to convince regulators that its satellites will not interfere with other satellite services and that it can prevent space debris and bodily injury when humans return to Earth.

The founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is also the founder of the private space flight company Blue Origin. The Bezos space company could theoretically launch Kuiper satellites into space, but Amazon said it would "look at all options" when the time comes, according to GeekWire.