Amazon's Leo satellite internet service scheduled to launch mid-2026

Amazon Leo, the company's satellite internet service formerly known as Project Kuiper, is scheduled to become available in mid-2026 according to CEO Andy Jassy's annual letter to shareholders. The company says Leo will support download speeds up to 1 Gbps, significantly faster than Starlink's typical range of 45 to 280 Mbps. Amazon also claims Leo will offer six to eight times faster uplink performance and double the download speeds compared to competitors. Amazon has not specified whether the mid-2026 launch will include consumer availability. Select enterprise customers began testing the service late last year. Delta and JetBlue have already signed agreements to use Leo for in-flight Wi-Fi starting in 2028, and other corporate partners include AT&T, Vodafone, DirecTV Latin America and NASA. The service will cost less than competitors and offer native AWS integration for enterprise data storage, analytics and AI, according to Amazon. However, the service remains behind schedule with only 241 satellites currently in orbit compared to Starlink's more than 10,000. Amazon asked the FCC in January for an extension on a July 2026 deadline requiring 1,600 satellites, saying it expected only around 700 to be operating by that deadline.