Amazon is finally letting businesses test its satellite internet service in a direct challenge to SpaceX's Starlink dominance. The newly rebranded Amazon Leo enters enterprise preview mode with production hardware that promises gigabit speeds, marking the company's most serious push yet into the $400 billion space economy that Elon Musk currently owns.
Amazon just fired its most serious shot yet at SpaceX's satellite internet empire. The company announced Monday it's opening business testing for Amazon Leo, its freshly rebranded satellite service that's been six years in the making and represents Jeff Bezos's biggest bet against Elon Musk's Starlink dominance.
Select enterprises can now test Leo's production hardware and software through an "enterprise preview" program that Amazon says will help it "tailor solutions for specific industries" before a wider commercial rollout. The move signals Amazon is ready to move beyond the experimental phase that has defined Project Kuiper since 2019.
The rebrand from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo happened earlier this month, complete with a new marketing website that positions the service as a direct Starlink competitor. The Leo name references low-Earth orbit, the space region within 1,200 miles of Earth's surface where Amazon is concentrating its 3,236-satellite constellation.
Amazon's timing couldn't be more critical. SpaceX has deployed nearly 9,000 Starlink satellites and generated an estimated $6.6 billion in revenue this year, according to industry analysts. Meanwhile, Amazon has managed just over 150 satellites since launching its first batch in April through partnerships with United Launch Alliance and ironically, SpaceX itself.
"We're shipping units of our Pro terminals, as well as our Ultra antennas, to members of our enterprise preview program," Amazon said in a company blog post. The Ultra model represents Amazon's technical counterpunch - promising download speeds up to 1 gigabit per second and uploads to 400 megabits per second through a custom silicon chip Amazon claims makes it "the fastest commercial phased array antenna in production."
That's a bold claim in a market where Starlink's enterprise customers already rely on satellite connectivity for everything from oil rigs to cruise ships. Amazon is betting its AWS enterprise relationships and custom chip expertise can crack open Starlink's first-mover advantage.
