Amazon Expects Kuiper to Serve Five Countries by Early 2026

(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc.’s satellite internet venture aims to be able to offer service to the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK by the end of the first quarter of 2026, an executive said.

Ricky Freeman, president of government solutions for the Project Kuiper satellite venture, said Amazon expected to have more than 200 satellites in low-Earth orbit by the end of the year. The company has said it expects to begin service by late 2025, though it hasn’t specified which markets will receive coverage or precisely when.

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Amazon aims to build out a fleet of more than 3,200 satellites, which will offer connectivity to individual customers, businesses and governments.

Freeman, speaking at a World Space Business Week event in Paris on Monday, said Kuiper would later deploy satellites covering more southern latitudes, covering as many as 26 countries by the end of 2026, and reaching the equator in 2027.

Amazon plans to offer “full global coverage including the poles in approximately 88 to 100 countries” by 2028, he said. At that point, he added, the company would be launching additional satellites beyond its initially planned deployment.

“We are very pleased with where we are right now,” Freeman said.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment beyond Freeman’s remarks.

Amazon’s Kuiper team, which aims to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, has experienced delays from rocket builders and earlier this year was struggling to ramp up satellite production. Amazon has since launched four batches of satellites, with another scheduled for later this month.

JetBlue Airways Corp. on Sept. 4 revealed an agreement to use Project Kuiper satellites to power onboard Wi-Fi, making the airline the first to announce such a deal. JetBlue said it will begin providing passengers with internet access using Amazon’s satellites in 2027.

(Updates to add detail in fourth paragraph about 2026 deployment.)

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