The deadline that looked like it might sink Amazon’s satellite broadband project is gone. The Federal Communications Commission has waived the requirement that Amazon launch half of its constellation by the end of July, a reprieve that gives the company more time to get spacecraft into orbit.
The FCC approved the network, now called Amazon Leo and formerly Project Kuiper, in July 2020. The authorization carried two deadlines. Amazon had to launch half of its 3,232 satellites by 30 July 2026 to keep its permission to launch the rest. All first-generation satellites had to be up by 30 July 2029.
That halfway mark meant 1,616 spacecraft. Nobody expected Amazon to get there.
Waiver, not extension
Amazon filed an application in January asking the FCC to push the deadline to July 2028 or waive it. The commission picked the second option. It removed any time limit on the 50 percent milestone but left the July 2029 deadline for the full constellation untouched.
Jay Schwarz, chief of the FCC Space Bureau, signed the letter, which became public on Friday. The ruling was anticipated: Amazon is the only company with a realistic chance of launching a satellite broadband service to compete directly with SpaceX’s Starlink any time soon, and the FCC said as much.
“Waiver serves the public interest by promoting a second large satellite broadband constellation,” the commission wrote. “At this time, only one operator, SpaceX, is providing broadband to American consumers from low-Earth orbit.” It described Amazon Leo’s service as one that “promises to be ‘groundbreaking,’ both in quality of service and affordability for consumers.”
The FCC also pointed to Amazon’s spending. The company has put more than $10 billion into deploying the system, along with physical infrastructure and manufacturing. That investment and the public interest were among the “special circumstances” the commission cited for dropping this summer’s deadline.
