Last Tuesday, NBN Co, the operator of Australia’s National Broadband Network, revealed that Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite broadband service “will be ready for commercial services by mid-2026.” Additionally, they also announced the partnership they have established with Amazon to provide broadband to users in more remote areas. This space technology requires the placement of 3,000 satellites, of which Amazon has only launched 78. This delay does not concern NBN Co, as the company has broadband satellites supplying over 300,000 remote locations. Jeff Bezos’s main competitor is Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. With its Starlink service, it has already secured over 350,000 contracts in Australia.
Project Kuiper, Amazon
The space race has encountered a fork consisting of being the first to supply the planet with a network of internet through satellites. This is precisely the mission of Project Kuiper, an initiative of the company founded by Jeff Bezos, Amazon. It aims to provide broadband internet worldwide through a constellation of satellites in orbit. The goal is to provide internet to those who live in remote or marginalized areas, where cable internet is difficult to reach. It is expected and intended that the offered connections will have speeds ranging from 400 Mbps to 1 Gbps.
Starlink, SpaceX
For his part, Elon Musk seems to have been faster. Through the company he founded, SpaceX, he intends to offer the same service as Amazon with his project called Starlink. Like Project Kuiper, it aims to provide high-speed internet connection in remote areas. The satellites he has already put into orbit operate by connecting with ground receivers.
New alliances
The operator of Australia’s National Broadband Network, NBN Co, announced last Tuesday its merger with Amazon to boost the Project Kuiper and made the following statement, “The space broadband service of Amazon’s Project Kuiper will be ready for commercial services ‘from mid-2026.'”
Despite the multiple delays in Amazon’s timeline with the project, both companies remain optimistic. NBN Co’s CEO, Andy Jassy, stated, “very hopeful to get this service into commercial beta by the end of this year or early next.” It seems that nothing can shake that optimism. Amazon’s development plan includes launching 3,200 satellites, of which only 78 have been launched, and it is set to launch 24 more this week.
While the company’s prediction to place half of them by mid-2026 may not be achieved by the expected date, this seems to be a concern for neither party. NBN Co already has satellites that can provide broadband internet connection, so the delays in Amazon’s schedule are not so alarming. More than 300,000 locations in Australia cannot access cable or wireless internet services due to their large size. All of them use NBN Co’s broadband, leaving figures of 77,842 establishments that used this service just last June 2025.
Kuiper Project VS Starlink
Although this merger has the backing of the customer portfolio and existing demand in Australia, they should not be so calm. The main competition in the market comes from Elon Musk and SpaceX. The American company offers exactly the same service and has more than 6,750 satellites in orbit and operating at maximum capacity. Additionally, SpaceX announced the agreement with more than 350,000 Australian customers who are willing to hire their services to access the internet network.
Amazon cuenta con la ventaja de contar con su tienda de comercio electrónico en Australia, por lo que entregar el kit de conectividad a los clientes es mucho mas sencillo y rápido. Sin embargo, aun tiene que revelar cual sera el diseño de sus terminales, y lo mas importante para el consumidor, cual sera el precio a pagar pos sus servicios en Australia. Quien crees que se hará con el poder en la carrera por el abastecimiento de internet satelital?