Amazon Leo, the company’s satellite internet service with more than 150 satellites in orbit, is launching a preview designed to enable select business customers to begin testing the network using production hardware and software. The company also said the preview will also allow the Amazon Leo team to gather additional customer feedback and tailor solutions for specific industries ahead of a broader 2026 rollout.
The company said the preview will feature the Amazon Leo Ultra, an enterprise-grade terminal that includes a full-duplex phased array antenna and provides download speeds up to 1 Gbps and upload speeds up to 400 Mbps. Amazon Leo claimed this is the fastest commercial phased array antenna in production.
Amazon Leo Ultra is engineered to withstand high-and low temperatures, precipitation, and strong winds. The antenna incorporates Amazon’s proprietary radio frequency (RF) design and signal processing algorithms, as well as advanced networking capabilities.
The technology will offer a pair of primary private networking solutions:
- Direct to AWS: AWS customers will be able to connect directly to their cloud workloads using an AWS Transit Gateway or AWS Direct Connect Gateway.
- Private network interconnect: Businesses and telecommunications providers can establish private network interconnects (PNI) at major colocation facilities to connect remote locations directly to their data center or core network.
“Amazon Leo represents a massive opportunity for businesses operating in challenging environments,” Chris Weber, Amazon Leo vice president of consumer and enterprise business, said in a prepared statement about the upcoming preview.
“From our satellite and network design to our portfolio of high-performance phased array antennas, we’ve designed Amazon Leo to meet the needs of some of the most complex business and government customers out there, and we’re excited to provide them with the tools they need to transform their operations, no matter where they are in the world.”
Amazon Leo was previously named Amazon Kuiper. The company said that Leo is a more “down-to-earth name” for two reasons. First, it includes the LEO technology it is hoping to harness. Second, the original name was taken from the Kuiper Belt, a ring of asteroids in the far reaches of the solar system.
Amazon Leo has won several provisional awards in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.
