Amazon will offer direct-to-device sat in 2028

For years, Amazon has promised it would eventually offer its own low-Earth orbit satellite service capable of going head-to-head with Starlink. It’s been an extremely slow road for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, but it looks like momentum is finally picking up. Earlier today, the company announced its satellite service will debut under the name Amazon Leo and that it will soon partner up with several airline carriers to offer up to 1Gbps speeds in the air. That’s not the only big news, as Amazon has also announced a merger with Globalstar.

For those who don’t know, Globalstar is a direct-to-device (D2D) provider, which means it can connect directly to mobile devices without the need for a ground-based tower.

It also has a network of about 30 LEO satellites, which will be added to Amazon’s existing collection of around 200 units. This should allow Amazon to better compete against Starlink for home internet, in addition to potentially providing an alternative to T-Sat by Starlink in the future.

Globalstar was already Apple’s partner for iPhone and Watch satellite features, with the latter company investing heavily in the network. This relationship will continue, just with Amazon LEO as the basis for these services going forward. That said, the shift isn’t expected to begin until 2028.

While these moves show Amazon hasn’t given up on its LEO ambitions, it’s also important to be realistic about where things stand.

Right now, Starlink has over 10 million active subscribers, has substantially lowered its pricing through promos, and has thousands of operating satellites. Meanwhile, Amazon LEO has a little under 300 units with the acquisition, though it has plans to launch over 3,000 satellites by 2029. It hasn’t launched a commercial service yet, though it plans to have a limited commercial launch sometime in “mid-2026”.

On the bright side, Amazon’s D2D implementation will reportedly offer much higher spectrum and efficiency than legacy direct-to-cell options. This means that when Amazon starts pushing its D2D satellite system in 2028, it could end up leapfrogging past Starlink here by offering advanced voice, data, and messaging services with speeds that are closer to what you’d get with terrestrial networks. Of course, Starlink could easily make improvements of its own in order to ensure it doesn’t get left behind here.

It’s unclear if or when Amazon and other competitors will be able to catch up to Starlink’s massive head start, but ultimately, the more competition driven into this space, the better it’ll be for consumers in terms of pricing and options.