Uruguay authorized Amazon to offer satellite internet through its Kuiper Project

(from Montevideo, Uruguay) , One of the latest resolutions of Communications Services Regulatory Unit (URSEC) The multinational authority of Uruguay, taken on 28 December, was Amazon to develop the country kuiper project, Which envisages the use of satellites with infrared lasers to provide high speed internet.

This project is an initiative of the company to provide fast internet and access to communities that do not currently have traditional Internet services. To fund its development, Amazon deployed thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites, connected to a global network of antennas, fiber and Internet connection points on the ground.

This initiative competes starlinkOf spacexSignature Elon Musk Which also attempts to increase Internet access with these types of satellites.

Amazon had asked Uruguayan authorities to obtain a telecommunications license to provide “satellite facilities and transportation services” in the country through its network of non-geostationary satellites, to which the Uruguayan government agreed. ursec resolution enables amazon to install Fixed Earth Station “Intended to Establish Gateway Link (Station’)door,

The station, the resolution details, will be in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

The authorization of the executive branch means that the multinational will be able to sell its services to companies that are already present in Uruguay and the region. the company expects Operations in the country will begin in October 2025.

The Uruguayan government believes that Amazon’s decision is good news for the country. Mercedes Aramendia, President of Ursec, announced Critic The authorization means “first phase” and considered it “very good” that these stations are installed in the country and that “various national and international companies” are committed to the “development of connectivity” in Uruguay and the region.

The authorization Amazon received is for its Class C license, which authorizes the company to install telecommunications systems “for the provision or rental” of those services to licensees.

Ursec, the regulator of communications services in Uruguay, established that Amazon must update the launch details and operating conditions of each satellite that makes up its network.

To grant authorization, Ursek assumed that Amazon launch two test satellites in October 2023 (Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2) and said that it is planned to start its operations during October 2025. Another point that the regulator highlighted is that Amazon’s project idea is that the installation location of its station will “allow to solve possible technical problems”, thereby avoiding “harmful interference”.

It is planned that the low orbit satellites will be distributed in 98 “orbital planes”. Altitude of 590, 610 and 630 kilometers.

The Kuiper Project managed to validate an essential technology that will improve efficiency and reduce delays in its Internet systems via satellites, as Amazon recently reported. The company says “optical links between satellites” will be used, which refers to a data transmission method that uses infrared lasers to link ships orbiting in space.

This type of link was previously used to facilitate communication between two satellites simultaneously. However, people involved in this project will have the ability to connect via spacecraft at the same time, creating a mesh network in space.

Amazon said this This will allow network data to be transferred approximately 30% faster that terrestrial cable optical fiber Which transmits information over the same distance.

In May 2021, Electronic commerce platform reported authorizing Uruguay as an eligible country for the sale of products, The decision, then reported by the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, was made after efforts by the Foreign Ministry and the Uruguayan Embassy in the United States.