Kuiper, the ambitious satellite company of Amazon, is collaborating with Verizon to further expand 4G / LTE and 5G coverage in the most remote areas of the globe. Through the new partnership, Kuiper’s future satellites could provide connectivity to Verizon’s new cell towers, which shouldn’t require expensive infrastructure construction.
Kuiper starts a partnership with Verizon
Kuiper is Amazon’s $ 10 billion initiative aimed at launching a constellation of 3,236 satellites into Earth’s orbit to provide broadband Internet coverage in the most remote areas of the world. With satellites flying at altitudes between 590 kilometers and 630 kilometers, the plan is to provide connectivity to rural areas, where it is difficult to provide Internet coverage over traditional fiber. During testing, Kuiper claimed that his system can produce transmission speed up to 400Mbps.
Amazon is therefore starting a collaboration with Verizon, allowing the latter to expand access to its 4G and 5G networks to more rural and remote locations without having to resort to more traditional connectivity methods. Thanks to satellites, Verizon would be able to build 4G and 5G towers in hard-to-reach areas without digging for fiber cables, which is difficult and sometimes cost-prohibitive.
However, this is only true in theory for now, as Kuiper has yet to launch its satellites into orbit. As part of its launch license with the Federal Communications Commission, Kuiper the company will have to launch at least half of all its satellites by 2026.
In practice, this whole project is currently still in the planning stage, but it is undeniable that the potential of such an operation is very interesting. Of course, it must be said that SpaceX by Elon Musk seems further ahead in the satellite works, but the war on space is still open.