Amazon has enough satellites to launch its Starlink competitor
Early adopters of Amazon Leo should temper expectations.
by Thomas Ricker
Jul 2, 2026, 5:13 AM EDT
_Payloads of Amazon’s Leo satellites sorted by launch vehicle._Image: Amazon
Thomas Ricker is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.
Amazon says it now has enough satellites operating in low-Earth orbit to light up its Starlink internet competitor. With last night’s launch, Amazon Leo has 396 satellites deployed, which is “enough to support continuous service across initial latitudes,” according to Chris Weber, VP heading up business and product for Amazon Leo. That puts the company on track to meet its “mid-2026” target for commercial availability. Just don’t expect miracles on day one.
SpaceX went live with its “Better than nothing beta” back in 2020 when it had almost 900 satellites operating in low-Earth orbit. It initially served a narrow band of users in the upper US and Canada, who complained about frequent service interruptions and high sensitivity to obstructions, with speeds between 50Mbps and 150Mbps, and latency from 20ms to 40ms. By 2022, the service and coverage areas had already dramatically improved.
Early adopters of Amazon’s Leo service can expect the same initially, with future satellite launches helping to improve performance, increase capacity, and expand global coverage.
Last few launches were big for @AmazonLeo - bringing us to 390+ satellites deployed, enough to support continuous service across initial latitudes.
Still lots of work ahead – including raising all these new satellites to their assigned altitude – but we’ve completed enough… pic.twitter.com/UZb404fXRq
— Chris Weber (@Weber44Chris) July 2, 2026
SpaceX currently has over 10,000 Starlink satellites in operation, providing robust internet connectivity on land, sea, and air in over 160 countries.
