Amazon said Wednesday it will launch satellite internet services in South Africa, entering a market where rival Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink has struggled to secure regulatory approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amazon Leo, the US e-commerce giant\u2019s low-Earth orbit satellite network, aims to provide internet access to customers in areas with limited or no connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company, founded by American billionaire Jeff Bezos, will partner with South African internet provider Herotel, it said on its website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the deal, Herotel \u2014 South Africa\u2019s largest fixed internet service provider \u2014 will use Amazon Leo\u2019s technology to offer a new service called Evry, slated for launch commercially in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is the first Amazon Leo agreement of this kind in Africa,\u201d the company said, without disclosing financial terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement comes as SpaceX\u2019s Starlink has yet to secure a licence in South Africa because of local ownership rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Telecoms companies in South Africa, including those with foreign investment, are required to provide 30 percent equity to historically disadvantaged groups \u2014 a policy created to mitigate the legacy of racial inequality left by apartheid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa-born billionaire Musk has refused to cede ownership stakes, calling the black empowerment policy \u201copenly racist\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk, who left South Africa in his late teens, has repeatedly accused the Pretoria government of discriminating against white people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amazon launched its first batch of low-Earth orbit satellites last year and says it now has more than 390 satellites deployed, far behind Starlink\u2019s fleet of more than 10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amazon said Wednesday it will launch satellite internet services in South Africa, entering a market where rival Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink has struggled to secure regulatory approval. Amazon Leo, the US e-commerce giant\u2019s low-Earth orbit satellite network, aims to provide internet access to customers in areas with limited or no connectivity. The company, founded by American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32335,"featured_media":10467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[343,2283,4006],"class_list":["post-10466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-amazon","tag-launch","tag-satellite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10468,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10466\/revisions\/10468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}