Amazon asks Icasa to cut spectrum fees ahead of Leo launch

Amazon Leo has told communications regulator Icasa that it may not be able to provide affordable satellite broadband in South Africa if the authority does not adopt a proposed “frequency factor” that would lower spectrum fees for higher-frequency bands.

The warning came during Icasa’s public hearings on Thursday into draft amendments to the radio frequency spectrum regulations of 2015 and associated fees regulations of 2010.

The draft amendments, gazetted on 15 May, give effect to Icasa’s inquiry into the licensing framework for satellite services and cover the registration of satellite operators, revised fee formulas, blanket licensing of terminal networks, the protection of radio astronomy facilities and the use of earth stations in motion.

The frequency factor is a multiplier in Icasa’s fee formula. Setting a lower value for a band reduces what an operator pays per megahertz of spectrum used in it. Satellite systems increasingly work in bands well above those used by mobile networks, so where the regulator sets those multipliers determines a large part of an operator’s annual spectrum bill.

Presenting for Amazon Leo, Helen Kyeyune, regulatory and licensing affairs lead for sub-Saharan Africa, positioned the fee question as one of affordability.

“We support the frequency factor and the reduction in weighting for higher bands,” she said, arguing that higher bands are less congested and that satellite spectrum is shared and non-exclusive rather than exclusively assigned. “If the frequency factor is not implemented, that becomes really difficult. We may not provide this service.”

That, she said, cuts against Amazon Leo’s mission “to deliver fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world”.

Kyeyune positioned the company as a complement to mobile operators rather than a competitor. “We like to see ourselves as complementary or even enablers,” she said, pointing to agreements with local operators to extend their networks. Anything that lowers Amazon’s costs helps those partners price more affordably, she argued.

Amazon Leo, the low-Earth-orbit constellation run by Amazon subsidiary Kuiper Systems and renamed from Project Kuiper in November 2025, has committed more than US$10-billion to the system. It launched its first 27 production satellites in April 2025. After its 14th mission on 2 July, Amazon Leo vice president of business and product Chris Weber put the constellation at more than 390 satellites – enough, he said, to support continuous service across initial latitudes.

Deployment is nonetheless running well behind schedule. Amazon’s US Federal Communications Commission licence required 1 618 satellites, half the authorised constellation of 3 236, to be in orbit by 30 July 2026. That deadline passed last month with the constellation at roughly a quarter of the target, and Amazon has asked the FCC for an extension.