According to local media outlets such as Business Daily and Further Africa, Amazon has filed an application with the Communications Authority of Kenya to establish ground station infrastructure in the country. The aim is to operate communication infrastructure and obtain a 15-year international gateway license.
This move suggests Amazon’s interest in expanding its services in Kenya. Amazon Kuiper Kenya Limited, a local subsidiary of the company, has submitted an application to the regulator. The specifics regarding where Amazon intends to set up its ground station infrastructure have not been disclosed.
Referred to as Amazon Leo, the satellite service offered by the cloud and ecommerce giant operates in the low Earth orbit (LEO). Previously known as Project Kuiper, this service aims to provide internet connectivity globally. A substantial number of satellites are currently in orbit, with an expected total of over 3,300 by the completion of the full build-out.
Amazon plans to set up over 300 ground stations worldwide to support its network. These ground stations are expected to be the company’s initial ones in Africa for its Leo service. Despite this, Amazon Web Services already provides ground station services to clients from Cape Town, South Africa since 2020.
Amazon is in the process of acquiring Globalstar, a company that operates satellite gateways across Africa, including locations in Gabon, Rwanda, and Botswana. To date, Amazon has secured agreements for Leo with companies such as Vodafone and Vodacom, Verizon, NBN Co., and Vrio. Additionally, they have partnerships with Delta Airlines, JetBlue, and other organizations.
A mining company called Gold Fields struck an AWS deal that involved utilizing Kuiper for connectivity at its distant locations. Competing LEO satellite operator, Starlink, initiated a ground station site in Nairobi back in 053, possibly located at IXAfrica’s facility. The major teleport in Kenya is the Broglio Space Center, situated around 115km north of Mombasa near Malindi.
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