FCC Waives Amazon Leo Satellite Deployment Deadline, Removes 50% Launch Requirement

The FCC announced on June 5 that it would waive the interim milestone requiring Amazon Leo — formerly Project Kuiper — to have 1,616 satellites in orbit by July 30, 2026, a deadline Amazon had clearly been unable to meet. The ruling, signed by FCC Space Bureau chief Jay Schwarz, removes the 50 percent deployment milestone entirely but preserves the July 30, 2029 deadline for the full 3,232-satellite constellation. Amazon had requested either a 24-month extension or a full waiver in January, citing repeated, concurrent scheduling slips across all three of its primary heavy-lift launch providers: Ariane 6, New Glenn, and Vulcan Centaur. Both New Glenn and Vulcan are currently grounded following recent anomalies, including a dramatic New Glenn launchpad explosion on May 28. As a condition of the waiver, Amazon Leo will lose its spectrum priority status for satellites not deployed by July 31, 2026, until either March 2028 or when it reaches the 50 percent deployment mark — whichever comes first — and will also forfeit a previously agreed surety bond. SpaceX opposed the waiver, arguing Amazon had launched only about six percent of its authorized satellites in six years and raising separate concerns about orbital insertion altitudes and collision risks, which Amazon disputed. The FCC acknowledged the sparse competitive landscape, noting SpaceX is currently the only operator providing low-Earth orbit broadband to American consumers, and framed the waiver as serving the public interest. Amazon still plans to begin commercial Leo service later in 2025, and separately has applied to build its first African ground station in Kenya, where it would compete with Starlink in a continent that has the world's largest mobile internet usage gap at 64 percent.