// THE VERGE — MOBILE & WEB
Amazon has enough satellites to launch its Starlink competitor
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Early adopters of Amazon Leo should temper expectations.
Early adopters of Amazon Leo should temper expectations.
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Amazon says it now has enough satellites operating in low-Earth orbit to light up its Starlink internet competitor. With last night’s launch, Amazon Leo has 396 satellites deployed, which is “enough to support continuous service across initial latitudes,” according to Chris Weber, VP heading up business and product for Amazon Leo. That puts the company on track to meet its “mid-2026” target for commercial availability. Just don’t expect miracles on day one.
SpaceX went live with its “Better than nothing beta” back in 2020 when it had almost 900 satellites operating in low-Earth orbit. It initially served a narrow band of users in the upper US and Canada, who complained about frequent service interruptions and high sensitivity to obstructions, with speeds between 50Mbps and 150Mbps, and latency from 20ms to 40ms. By 2022, the service and coverage areas had already dramatically improved.
Early adopters of Amazon’s Leo service can expect the same initially, with future satellite launches helping to improve performance, increase capacity, and expand global coverage.