The deadline for Amazon to have a working home internet service is fast approaching. Well, in a few years there may be a lot to do to meet the FCC deadline or risk losing the spectrum it needs.
This new home internet service from Amazon is currently codenamed Project Kuiper. According to the CEO of Amazon, it is now one of the main axes of the company.
Here’s what Amazon’s CEO said in the shareholder letter:
Kuiper is another example of Amazon innovating for long-term customers in an area where customer needs are high. Our vision for Kuiper is to create a system of satellites in low Earth orbit to deliver high-quality, high-speed Internet service to places in the world that currently do not have it. Hundreds of millions of homes and businesses lack reliable internet access. Imagine what they will be able to do with reliable connectivity, from people taking online training courses, using financial services, starting their own business, shopping, enjoying entertainment, to business and governments improving their coverage, efficiency and operations. Kuiper will not only provide accessibility, but affordability. Our teams have developed low-cost antennas (i.e. client terminals) which will reduce access barriers. We recently unveiled the new terminals that will communicate with the satellites passing overhead, and we expect to be able to produce our standard residential version for less than $400 each. They’re small: 11 inches square, 1 inch thick, and weigh less than 5 pounds without their mounting bracket, but they deliver speeds of up to 400 megabits per second. And they’re powered by Amazon-designed baseband chips. We are preparing to launch two prototype satellites to test the entire end-to-end communications network this year, and plan to be in beta with commercial customers in 2024. Customer reaction to what we shared So far about Kuiper has been very positive, and we think Kuiper represents a very big potential opportunity for Amazon. It also shares several similarities with AWS in that it is capital-intensive to start with, but has a large potential consumer, business, and government customer base, revenue and profit potential of significant exploitation, and relatively few companies with the technical and inventive ability, as well as the investment hypothesis to follow.
So today we’re going to break down everything we learned about this new service and what we already knew.
Here’s everything we know about Amazon’s new home internet service:
Where is it today?
In October 2022, Amazon announced that its Kuiper project would launch more than 3,000 satellites into low Earth orbit to deliver this home internet service. To do this, Amazon has announced plans to build the necessary satellites in Kirkland, Washington.
Amazon has also reached an agreement with ULA, Arianespace and Blue Origin to launch these satellites into space starting in early 2023. With this agreement, Amazon hopes to launch several prototypes into space to test the system before the start of the mass production.
Amazon is facing a deadline as the FCC has given it until mid-2026 to have 1,600 satellites in space or risk losing its FCC approval for the project.
Will it be like old satellite internet services?
These satellites will provide much better home internet than old satellite home internet services. With faster speeds and lower latency, Amazon hopes to become a major player in the home internet world at a time when home internet becomes more critical than ever.
Here’s how Amazon describes these low Earth orbit satellites.
LEO is an area of space that extends up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,243 miles) above the Earth. Project Kuiper satellites will orbit between 590 and 630 kilometers (about 367 and 392 miles). The proximity of our satellites to the Earth’s surface means they can provide fast service to customers, making Project Kuiper’s connectivity effective for uses such as video calling, gaming, and high-definition streaming.
What speeds should we expect?
Here are the three internet speed options that Amazon Home Internet will offer:
Standard This standard version will come with an 11-inch square antenna that will deliver speeds of up to 400 Mbps. It will be perfect for homes.
Pro Version If you need a lot of speed, Amazon has an 11″ by 30″ pro antenna that can deliver speeds of up to 1 Gbps. This will be perfect for businesses or large households.
Handheld version Now, if speed isn’t that important to you, but you want something you can easily travel with, you might want Amazon’s ultra-portable version which is only 7 inches square and offers speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
What price should you expect?
Reports indicate that Amazon hopes to undersell Starlink. So look for a price at or below $100 per month. It might not seem cheap to some, but if you live in a rural area, high-speed internet for under $100 is a bargain.
Here’s what Amazon said about pricing for its new internet service.
Amazon has yet to announce pricing details, but affordability is a key tenet of Project Kuiper. Amazon has a long-standing commitment to low prices and has a long history of building popular, inexpensive devices like the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick. We apply a similar approach with Project Kuiper. We also know that customer needs vary widely around the world and our service offerings may vary from country to country with pricing and service tailored to customers in each region.
Final Thoughts:
This could be huge news for cord cutters if Amazon is able to follow through on its plans. Studies have shown that as more options for home internet arise, online prices have come down and data caps have disappeared. For now, however, we have to wait as we are probably still years away from fully building these networks.