Tech giant Amazon will next year launch an internet service based on low-orbit satellites, a network similar to the Starlink system that in one publicised case helped link a New Zealand community isolated by Cyclone Gabrielle to a global audience.
Project Kuiper – named after Dutch-born astronomer Gerard Kuiper – is Amazon’s plan for a constellation of 3236 satellites to provide high-speed affordable internet to anywhere in the world.
Reception is via a trio of antennas/terminals offering download speeds ranging from about 100 megabits per second to as much as 1 gigabit per second. As a comparison, NZ provider Chorus recommends 100Mbps-200Mbps for households using fibre, although it does have a 1Gbps connection.
The standard Amazon antenna is about the size of a pizza box, will cost around $US400 ($NZ650), and deliver speeds of up to 400Mbps. A more compact model – 18cm square – is good for 100Mbps. The antenna providing up to 1Gbps is 50cm x 75cm in size.
Amazon says its designs are “smaller, more affordable, and more capable” than Starlink’s. Each terminal comes with Amazon’s in-house baseband chip, nicknamed Prometheus.
The chip, says Amazon, “combines the processing power of a 5G modem chip found in modern smartphones, the capability of a cellular base station to handle traffic from thousands of customers at once, and the ability of a microwave backhaul antenna to support powerful point-to-point connection.”
Amazon’s expected to launch its first round of satellites in the first half of 2024 and should switch on service for its first customers later that year. Nothing yet on what sort of plans will be available.
“Our goal with Project Kuiper is not just to connect unserved and underserved communities, but also to delight them with the quality, reliability, and value of their service,” said Rajeev Badyal, Amazon’s vice-president of technology for Project Kuiper.