Amazon has introduced Leo Ultra, a high-performance satellite internet terminal designed for enterprise and government customers seeking faster and more secure connectivity. The 20-by-30-inch antenna is the first customer hardware in the company’s satellite broadband portfolio aimed at the professional market, launching this week in a private preview ahead of commercial availability next year.
The company said the Leo Ultra terminal can reach download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second and upload rates of 400 megabits per second, positioning it as a premium alternative to other satellite services currently in the field. Amazon described the hardware as “the fastest customer terminal in production”, citing a performance gap between Leo Ultra and the smaller antennas in its lineup, including the 11-inch Pro model and 7-inch Nano.
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The equipment will compete in a market dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, whose Performance Kit supports up to 400 Mbps download speeds. SpaceX has said future satellites will provide gigabit-class performance, but Amazon is focusing on the ability of its system to support private networking and cloud-direct connectivity — a feature intended to improve security and reduce latency for enterprise users.
Amazon highlighted the capability for Leo Ultra to connect directly to AWS and select cloud networks without routing traffic through the public internet. The company has framed this design as a safeguard for organizations operating in high-risk environments, following academic research that identified vulnerabilities in unencrypted GEO satellite links used globally.
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Pricing and geographic availability for the Leo Ultra terminal have not been announced. Amazon said further technical details will be released as the private preview progresses and the service approaches commercial launch in 2025.
Source: Amazon, SATCOM Security