SpaceX Tries To Derail Amazon Leo Satellite Launch Extension

SpaceX is calling out Amazon for failing to build out its Starlink competitor, Leo, on time, and appears to be trying to derail Amazon’s regulatory request for an extension.

“Extensions are meant to be minor and rare, resulting from unforeseeable circumstances truly out of the operator’s control. None of that is the case here,” SpaceX wrote in a Tuesday filing with the Federal Communications Commission.

It comes days after Amazon told the FCC that it doesn’t expect to hit a July 30 deadline to launch half of its Leo constellation, or 3,200 satellites. If it misses that milestone, it risks losing its license to launch additional satellites, so it’s asking the FCC for more time.

SpaceX doesn’t explicitly call for the FCC to block Amazon from building out Leo. However, its two-page filing argues that “Amazon’s maneuver is just its latest gambit to get special treatment at the expense of others trying to provide services to Americans.”

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

“Tellingly, Amazon routinely opposed its competitors’ requests for milestone extensions and for similar reasons in the past,” SpaceX adds. “Fortunately, the Commission has an opportunity to finally put an end to this gamesmanship by simply treating all of these filings as modifications under its existing precedent.”

The filing argues that Amazon’s extension request should be treated as a modification application for the Leo constellation, because it amounts to a new plan that could cause interference with Starlink and other satellite systems.

“To ensure that consumers are protected and that Amazon does not increase interference for those that rely on competing systems, Amazon’s latest filing should be treated as a request to defer the undeployed remainder of Amazon’s license to a subsequent processing round,” SpaceX says, citing existing precedent.

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SpaceX further argues that it was obvious Amazon wouldn’t hit the deadline to launch half of the Leo constellation by late July. Amazon’s satellite internet system currently spans only 180 satellites and is expected to reach around 700 by late July. Amazon blamed the delay on launch capacity constraints and the need to re-engineer its Leo satellites. SpaceX says that it’s due to “Amazon’s own decisions.”

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But for now, Leo is offering beta tests to select enterprise customers. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Starlink is already serving over 2 million active customers in the US and over 9 million globally.

The two companies have battled it out in regulatory filings before. In 2021, Amazon opposed certain aspects of SpaceX’s second-generation Starlink plans. CEO Elon Musk later hit back by mocking Amazon’s former CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, claiming the executive stepped down to “pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX.”