Amazon Leo, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite venture formerly known as Project Kuiper, is seeking regulatory approval to operate in Kenya, where global rival Starlink has already established a foothold.

The application seeks a Network Facilities Provider (NFP) Tier 2 licence, which would allow US billionaire Jeff Bezos’s company to build and operate telecommunications infrastructure across the East African country, including satellite-linked ground stations and fibre backhaul systems, TechCabal reports.

The licence, valid for 15 years, carries an upfront cost of around $115,000 and requires at least 30% local ownership within three years of approval, reflecting Kenya’s push to ensure foreign telecom entrants embed local participation and submit structured rollout plans.

The move comes as parent company Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) targets a mid-2026 commercial launch for its satellite Internet services, according to President and CEO Andy Jassy, with initial deployments expected in the United States before expansion into international markets.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, internet penetration stands at about 36%, according to ITU estimates. Kenya represents a strategic entry point in the continent’s fast-growing digital economy, where demand for high-speed Internet remains constrained by gaps in traditional infrastructure, particularly outside major urban centres.

In Kenya, penetration is estimated at about 48%, with more than 27mn users out of a population of over 56mn, based on DataReportal and Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) estimates.

Conventional broadband networks, which rely on fibre-optic cables and mobile towers, have struggled to reach remote and low-density areas due to high deployment costs, leaving large segments of the population underserved.

LEO satellite systems offer an alternative by delivering connectivity directly from space to user terminals on the ground, enabling faster speeds and lower latency compared to legacy satellite technologies.

Starlink, owned by billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX, entered the Kenyan market earlier, and is now the country’s eighth-largest Internet service provider with more than 22,000 subscribers.

“More telling: despite holding less than 1% of the overall market, Starlink dominates the high-speed segment, accounting for more than half of all connections above 100 megabytes per second (Mbps),” writes TechCabal. 

“It got there through aggressive pricing—hardware rentals, instalment payment plans—that lowered the barrier of entry in a market where upfront costs have historically kept people offline.”

Amazon’s approach has been more gradual. The company secured a landing permit in Nigeria in January 2026 but has yet to launch commercial services there, with Kenya now emerging as a priority expansion market.

Meanwhile, Starlink has expanded rapidly across Africa and is now active in markets including Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, according to company and regulatory data.

It has also parnered with Airtel Africa Plc (LSE:AAF), the telecom operator majority-owned by Bharti Airtel Ltd (NSE:BHARTIARTL), which in March conducted a pilot test in Kenya with Starlink to trial satellite-to-mobile connectivity.

The test was conducted in remote “no connectivity” zones where traditional mobile networks do not reach, ahead of a planned rollout across Airtel’s 14 African markets, including Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The trial demonstrated basic data and messaging services, including WhatsApp calls and messaging, maps navigation, Facebook Messenger, and financial transactions through the Airtel app.