Amazon will launch its satellite internet in South Africa, seemingly beating Musk in his homeland
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Amazon said Wednesday: technology company will implement a new one satellite internet service Amazon Leo South Africa in 2027, looks like leading Elon Musk’s rival Starlink Winning business in Africa’s most developed economy.
Founded by Amazon Jeff BezosIt said it would partner with South African internet provider Herotel to launch a new service in the country of 62 million people. Amazon said this is the first satellite internet deal on the African continent.
No financial details were initially disclosed.
Amazon’s announcement follows Musk’s harsh criticism of the government in his birth country. richest man in the world He accused South African regulations of preventing him from building Starlink there because he was white. apartheid government.
he meant South Africa’s affirmative action policiesRequiring foreign companies operating in the communications industry to give minority shares of their local entities to Black or other non-white owners in order to obtain a license.
The regulations are aimed at ensuring the opportunities afforded to people of color under the country’s previous apartheid system, which was based on white minority rule.
The South African government supported the Amazon deal, and Communications Minister Solly Malatsi joined representatives of Amazon and Herotel to announce the deal.
Amazon launched its first low-orbit internet satellite last year and says more than 390 are now operational.
Starlink’s first operational satellites were launched in 2019 and are currently More than 10,000 in orbit. Starlink’s satellite internet has launched in nearly two dozen African countries, but Musk has refused to comply with South Africa’s affirmative action regulations.
Amazon said Wednesday that the South African deal is the beginning of an effort to expand across Africa, where it is also working with Vanu Inc., a Lexington, Massachusetts-based company that specializes in mobile internet in developing countries. He also said that he would establish a partnership with.
There is a huge potential market for satellite internet in Africa, a continent of more than 1.5 billion people, many of whom live in rural and other areas without stable internet connections.
Amazon Leo, formerly called Project Kuiper, has signed deals to launch in Thailand, Kazakhstan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, according to announcements from the company and local operators it works with.
But Starlink is well ahead and says it now operates in more than 160 countries.
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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from Toronto.
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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
