FCC Approves Amazon Leo Expansion to 7,000+ Satellites with Polar Coverage

The upgraded constellation will offer high-speed services including satellite TV and 5G via Ku-band and V-band frequencies. SpaceX’s Starlink network, the dominant player in satellite broadband, already uses those frequency bands. While the FCC approved Amazon’s use of most requested frequencies, it deferred Amazon’s request to operate in certain Ka-band ranges and dismissed challenges from Iridium and Viasat.

Amazon has launched 180 Gen 1 satellites over the past year, with another 32 scheduled for launch this week aboard an Ariane 6 rocket. That tally falls far short of the 1,616 satellites the FCC requires Amazon to launch by the end of July. Last month, Amazon asked the FCC to extend the halfway-point milestone deadline to 2028, pledging to have all 3,232 Gen 1 satellites in orbit by mid-2029 as required.

The FCC said half of the newly authorized Gen 2 satellites must be launched by February 2032, with all in operation by February 2035. The approval positions Amazon to compete more directly with Starlink while raising questions about whether the company can meet its ambitious deployment schedule given delays with the first-generation system.