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Amazon Leo: What Amazon’s New Name Means For LEO Satellite Internet (And How It Stacks Up To Starlink)
Amazon just retired the “Project Kuiper” code name and officially rebranded its satellite broadband effort as Amazon Leo. The new name is a nod to low Earth orbit (LEO), the slice of space a few hundred kilometers above Earth where an entirely new generation of high-speed satellite networks is being built.
For anyone who follows cloud, networking, and remote connectivity, this is a big deal. Starlink may have the early lead, but Amazon is now clearly signaling that it intends to be a long-term, serious player in LEO broadband.
At 5Gstore, we care about this because many of our customers depend on a mix of cellular, wired, and satellite links for SD-WAN, failover, and IoT. Understanding how Amazon Leo compares to Starlink and other competitors will help you make smarter connectivity decisions over the next few years.
What is Amazon Leo?
Amazon Leo is Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite network designed to bring fast, low-latency internet to homes, businesses, governments, and hard-to-reach locations worldwide.
A few key facts about Amazon Leo today:
- Rebrand date: Project Kuiper was officially renamed Amazon Leo in November 2025.
- Satellites in orbit: Amazon has already launched more than 150 satellites as part of its initial constellation, with more launches lined up.
- Planned constellation size: The initial design calls for more than 3,000 LEO satellites to provide global coverage.
- Orbit altitude: Amazon Leo satellites will operate roughly 590–630 km above Earth, well within classic LEO territory.
- Customer antennas: Amazon is building three terminal families:
- Leo Nano (around 7″ x 7″) with speeds up to 100 Mbps
- Leo Pro (around 11″ x 11″) with speeds up to 400 Mbps
- Leo Ultra, an enterprise-grade antenna targeting up to 1 Gbps downstream
Amazon says it expects initial service for select enterprise customers by the end of 2025, then a broader rollout starting in 2026 as more satellites go up and capacity increases.
Early announced partners already include JetBlue for in-flight Wi-Fi, along with L3Harris, DIRECTV Latin America, Sky Brasil, and NBN Co in Australia, which shows a strong focus on B2B, government, and wholesale from day one.
How LEO satellite internet works (in plain English)
Traditional satellite internet providers like Viasat and HughesNet rely on geostationary (GEO) satellites parked roughly 36,000 km above Earth. That altitude makes coverage simple, but it also introduces a lot of latency – you feel it on video calls, gaming, and interactive apps.
LEO constellations such as Amazon Leo, Starlink, and OneWeb work differently:
- Satellites orbit at a few hundred to ~1,200 km instead of 36,000 km.
- Because they are closer, latency drops dramatically, often into the 25–60 ms range, which feels much more like terrestrial broadband.
- You need more satellites moving overhead to maintain continuous coverage, which is why these constellations involve hundreds or even thousands of spacecraft.
From a customer’s perspective, the experience is simple:
- A roof-mounted or pole-mounted antenna (dish or flat panel) points at the sky.
- The antenna connects via Ethernet to a router or SD-WAN appliance (the part 5Gstore cares about).
- The satellite network backhauls traffic to ground stations that link into the internet, cloud services, or private networks.
Amazon Leo is essentially another new “WAN pipe” you can plug into a multi-WAN router, right alongside fiber, cable, and 4G/5G.
Amazon Leo vs. Starlink
Starlink is the reference point for LEO broadband today, so let’s compare where things stand right now.
Scale and maturity
Starlink (SpaceX):
- Service status: Fully commercial with service in around 150+ countries and territories.
- Satellites in orbit: Over 7,600–8,000 active satellites, far ahead of any other LEO broadband network.
- Subscribers: Roughly 8 million users worldwide as of late 2025.
- Service tiers: Residential, Business, Mobility (RVs, vehicles), Maritime, Aviation, and more.
Amazon Leo:
- Service status: Pre-commercial. Enterprise trials are expected before the end of 2025, with broader rollouts starting in 2026.
- Satellites in orbit: 150+ today, ramping to more than 3,000 in the initial phase.
- Service tiers: Not fully public yet, but Amazon has clearly defined three hardware classes (Nano, Pro, Ultra) for different performance and use cases.
Takeaway: Starlink is the mature, at-scale option today. Amazon Leo is late to market but well-funded, with a clear plan and a massive launch pipeline.
Speeds and performance
On paper, the performance ranges are in the same ballpark:
- Amazon Leo: Up to 100 Mbps on Leo Nano, 400 Mbps on Leo Pro, and 1 Gbps on Leo Ultra.
- Starlink: Typically advertises ranges from 25–220+ Mbps for residential users, with higher tiers and specialized plans (e.g., business, maritime) capable of hundreds of Mbps and above, depending on plan and location.
Latency should be similar for both networks because they operate in comparable LEO shells, though real-world numbers will depend on network load, backhaul, and routing.
Where Amazon could differentiate is in tight integration with AWS and enterprise networking, while Starlink currently focuses more on a “plug-and-play” experience for consumers, small businesses, and specialty verticals like maritime and aviation.
Ecosystem and target customers
- Amazon Leo is being built inside Amazon’s Devices and Services division, alongside products like Echo, eero, and Ring. That suggests a deep pipeline for integrations into smart home, SMB, and AWS-connected workloads, plus strong B2B offerings through partners.
- Starlink is part of SpaceX. It benefits from SpaceX’s high-cadence launch capability, which is why Starlink iterates so quickly on satellites, antennas, and coverage expansion.
In the near term, expect Starlink to remain the default choice for most remote sites and mobile deployments, while Amazon Leo sells into:
- Airlines (JetBlue and others)
- National broadband initiatives
- Government and defense
- Large enterprises that already have strong ties to AWS or Amazon Web Services partners
Over time, consumer and small-business offerings from Amazon Leo are likely, but we do not yet have pricing or final service plans.
Other competitors in the LEO broadband race
Amazon Leo is not just going up against Starlink. The satellite-connectivity ecosystem is getting crowded:
- Eutelsat OneWeb: A LEO constellation of 648 satellites that focuses heavily on wholesale, backhaul, and enterprise rather than direct-to-consumer.
- IRIS² (EU project): A European-backed constellation that will mix LEO and MEO satellites to provide secure connectivity for government and commercial users, positioned as a regional competitor to Starlink and future Amazon Leo offerings.
- Viasat and HughesNet: GEO players that are modernizing with newer, higher-capacity satellites (like ViaSat-3 and JUPITER 3) and targeting customers who value consistent coverage and capacity more than ultra-low latency.
For businesses, this competition is healthy. More constellations mean:
- More options for coverage in difficult locations
- Pressure on pricing over time
- Diverse regulatory footprints and security postures, which can matter for government and critical infrastructure
What this means for 5Gstore customers
From a 5Gstore point of view, Amazon Leo is another high-throughput, low-latency WAN option you will eventually be able to plug into the same routers and SD-WAN appliances you already use for Starlink or GEO satellite today.
In practical terms:
- Your multi-WAN or SD-WAN router does not care if a WAN port is fed by Starlink, Amazon Leo, fiber, or 5G. It just sees another IP path.
- You will be able to:
- Use LEO as a primary link where terrestrial access is poor.
- Use it as a failover or bonded path alongside 5G, cable, or fiber to keep critical sites up.
- Mix satellite and cellular to protect against regional outages, fiber cuts, or extreme weather.
As Amazon Leo moves from testing into production, we will be watching closely:
- How quickly coverage expands across North America and globally
- What the hardware form factors look like and how easily they integrate with common router platforms
- Where Amazon chooses to focus first (consumer vs. enterprise vs. aviation/maritime)
- How performance and support compare to Starlink and OneWeb in real deployments
We will continue to test, validate, and document best practices for combining LEO satellite with 4G/5G routers, antennas, and SD-WAN so you can design resilient networks with the right mix of terrestrial and space-based connectivity.
Should you wait for Amazon Leo or go with Starlink now?
If you need satellite internet today, Starlink and some GEO options are the realistic choices. Starlink, in particular, has:
- Established coverage in many rural and remote areas
- Off-the-shelf support with many of the enterprise routers and SD-WAN gear sold by 5Gstore
- A proven track record in residential, mobile, and enterprise deployments
If your timeline is more mid- to long-term, or you are already heavily invested in AWS and Amazon’s ecosystem, it is worth watching Amazon Leo closely. By 2026–2027, Amazon will likely be a serious alternative, especially for:
- Enterprises that want tight integration with cloud and edge services
- Governments and operators that prefer more than one large LEO vendor for redundancy and negotiating leverage
- Aviation and large-fleet customers looking for multi-vendor options for in-flight or on-the-move connectivity
As Amazon Leo spins up and the LEO competition heats up, we will keep breaking down what it means for SD-WAN, 5G, and always-on connectivity. If you are designing a network that might involve satellite, cellular, or both, the 5Gstore team is here to help you think through architecture, hardware selection, and redundancy.
