FCC lifts looming deadline for Amazon Leo satellite broadband constellation

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Amazon Leo a waiver of its July 2026 satellite deployment deadline, while retaining its July 30, 2029 final deployment deadline. Under the conditional waiver, Amazon Leo satellites launched after July 30 would temporarily lose priority status, meaning Amazon bears the regulatory burden of ensuring its newer satellites won't interfere with other constellations, but Amazon can reclaim its priority status in March 2028, or sooner if it hits the 50% deployment milestone before then. The FCC said the waiver of the interim deadline serves the public interest because Amazon Leo promises to become a second large satellite constellation, after SpaceX's Starlink, bringing broadband to Americans.

Source: Ars Technica | 2026-06-09