Amazon’s satellite internet system, Project Kuiper, is still in development, but Verizon is hoping to one day tap the technology to supply broadband to customers based in rural America.
On Tuesday, the two companies announced a team-up that’ll involve Verizon helping Amazon to develop Project Kuiper. The announcement lacks a lot of specifics, but the goal is to turn Project Kuiper into reality, enabling the system to serve consumers stuck with slow internet service.
“As part of the collaboration, Project Kuiper and Verizon have begun to develop technical specifications and define preliminary commercial models for a range of connectivity services for US consumers and global enterprise customers operating in rural and remote locations around the world,” Verizon says.
The first stage of the partnership calls for Verizon to use Project Kuiper for “cellular backhaul,” meaning Amazon’s system will supply high-speed broadband to areas where Verizon’s network struggles to provide enough coverage.
“The integration will leverage antenna development already in progress from the Project Kuiper team, and both engineering teams are now working together to define technical requirements to help extend fixed wireless coverage to rural and remote communities across the United States,” Verizon adds.
Last year, Amazon said a prototype antenna terminal for Project Kuiper was capable of delivering 400Mbps download speeds. Still, the major challenge facing the partnership is that the e-commerce company has yet to launch any satellites for the system, making it unclear when it'll begin serving real customers. In contrast, SpaceX’s rival satellite internet system, Starlink, is already beaming high-speed broadband to over 100,000 users across the globe.
"We haven’t announced a specific timetable (on satellite launches) yet, but our FCC license requires that we deploy at least 50% of our satellite constellation by July 2026," an Amazon spokesperson says.
Although the company has been quiet on the technology's progress, Amazon has committed at least $10 billion to Project Kuiper. In April, the company also announced plans to use Atlas V rockets to deploy the Project Kuiper satellite constellation with the goal of one day operating 3,236 satellites in low orbit.