Amazon demos Project Kuiper's high-speed satellite internet with 1.2 Gbps test

Bottom line: Project Kuiper enters a market already dominated by Starlink, which has deployed thousands of satellites and built a customer base numbering in the millions, giving it a significant lead. Its demonstration of gigabit-class service shows its technology is capable of competing at the top end of performance, but large-scale rollout remains the critical test.

Amazon's bid to bring high-speed broadband from space took a step forward this week when Project Kuiper demonstrated internet speeds above 1.2 gigabits per second during a live test. The performance was achieved using the program's enterprise-grade customer terminal, which recorded a download rate of 1,289 megabits per second on Ookla's Speedtest platform.

Rajeev Badyal, the head of Project Kuiper, described the device as the first commercial phased array antenna capable of sustaining gigabit speeds from low Earth orbit. Amazon has billed the milestone as an early sign of ...