E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc AMZN has been building up a satellite internet service over the years. Here’s a look at where its Project Kuiper could soon be launching.
What Happened: New job listings from Amazon show the company is looking to hire managers to help launch the internet service in India, according to a new report from TechCrunch.
The job listings could mean the company is working on bringing the low Earth orbit satellites for use in India, which is the second most populous country in the world.
One of the job listings refers to a manager to handle licensing in India and Asia-Pacific countries. Another listing highlights a “business strategy lead” to help launch and operate the service worldwide.
Amazon has reportedly been exploring a launch in India for more than a year.
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Why It’s Important: India is the second-largest internet market in the world, but still has low internet penetration, with less than 50% of the population having access to the internet.
In 2020, only 43% of the country was using the internet, according to data from the World Bank. The United States has internet penetration of 91%.
Amazon announced Project Kuiper in 2019 in an attempt to tackle the large broadband satellite internet market.
The company will compete with Starlink from SpaceX, a company founded by Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk. Starlink plans to launch up to 200,000 terminals in India by the end of 2022. Other satellite companies are also eyeing the region given the high population and low penetration rates.
Spacex and Amazon have clashed over the launch of Project Kuiper in the past, pitting Musk and former Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos against each other. Amazon argued that Starlink satellites should not be allowed to move to lower altitudes.
Amazon is planning to invest over $10 billion in Project Kuiper with a goal of targeting unserved and underserved countries around the world and providing an affordable internet solution.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Project Kuiper’s planned launch of 3,200 satellites last year. Amazon’s first satellites are expected to launch later in 2022 with the United States the potential first test market.
AMZN Price Action: Amazon shares were down 0.86% at $121.72 Thursday.
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