The Federal Communications Commission has waived a requirement for Amazon to launch half of its satellite broadband constellation by the end of July, a key regulatory reprieve that buys the tech giant time to get more of its spacecraft into orbit.

Amazon won regulatory approval for the Amazon Leo network in July 2020. The FCC’s authorization came with two deadlines. First, Amazon had to launch half of its 3,232 satellites by July 30, 2026, in order to maintain authorization to launch the rest of the network. The regulator gave Amazon a deadline of July 30, 2029, to have all of its first-generation satellites in orbit.

It has been apparent for some time that Amazon would not meet the FCC’s requirement to launch half of its satellites—1,616 spacecraft—by the end of next month. Amazon filed an application in January requesting the FCC extend the deadline to July 2028 or waive it altogether. The commission decided on the latter option, removing any time limit for the 50 percent deployment milestone, but keeping the July 2029 deadline in place for the entire constellation.

Waiver granted

The FCC made its decision public in a letter Friday signed by Jay Schwarz, chief of the FCC Space Bureau. The ruling was expected. After all, Amazon is the only company with a realistic chance of launching a satellite broadband service to compete directly with SpaceX’s Starlink anytime soon. The FCC acknowledged the sparse competition in the satellite broadband sector in the letter.

“Waiver serves the public interest by promoting a second large satellite broadband constellation,” the FCC said. “At this time, only one operator, SpaceX, is providing broadband to American consumers from low-Earth orbit. Amazon Leo’s service promises to be ‘groundbreaking,’ both in quality of service and affordability for consumers. Amazon Leo has further invested significant resources into meeting its commitments, including more than $10 billion to deploy the system along with investments in physical infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.”

Consideration of public interest and Amazon’s multibillion-dollar investment in Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, are among the “special circumstances” the FCC cited for doing away with this summer’s deadline.