Amazon signs Uzbekistan's Uztelecom to distribute Amazon Leo satellite service

Amazon has signed Uzbekistan's state-owned carrier Uztelecom as a partner for Leo, its low Earth orbit satellite service, with affiliate UZ-SAT acting as an authorized distributor in a deal Data Center Dynamics reported this week, and the constellation remains in private preview. The companies said UZ-SAT will use the constellation to deliver internet to communities and businesses in areas where traditional networks are difficult to deploy.

Uztelecom's fiber network runs more than 378,000 kilometers, reaches 96 percent of the country's communities and serves more than 13 million users, while the carrier has kept upgrading the terrestrial plant, adding 5G in 2022 and, it said recently, 65 base stations. The coverage that remains is the expensive tail, and renting orbit capacity for it is likely cheaper than trenching to it.

The capacity being sold is not yet fully built. Renamed from Project Kuiper, Amazon Leo has launched nearly 400 satellites against a plan of 3,000 and is testing the service with employees and select enterprise customers in a private preview, with initial service expected in certain locations later this year. The partner list already runs through Vodafone and Vodacom, Verizon, AT&T, NBN Co., Thaicom and Vrio, with JetBlue and Delta as airline customers and an AWS arrangement with Gold Fields covering remote mining sites when the project still carried the Kuiper name.

The announcement carried no pricing, capacity commitment or service date for Uzbekistan, as with nearly every deal on that list, and the incumbent here is a state operator whose fiber already reaches all but the marginal communities. Amazon Leo is buying distribution through incumbents rather than building a retail brand. Trevor Vieweg, Amazon Leo's global head of business, described the arrangement as pairing satellite technology with local expertise, while Bakhrom Azimov, UZ-SAT's general director, said next-generation satellite connectivity would complement Uztelecom's existing infrastructure and serve as another tool for the country's digital development.

Uztelecom is taking the capital-light route this publication noted in Cell C's 5G launch in South Africa, where a carrier switched on service without owning the radio network. Satellite distribution lets the brand expand while somebody else carries the constellation's capex, and here that is Amazon's 3,000-satellite plan, while Uztelecom contributes the sales channel, the local operating footprint and a base of more than 13 million users.

Whether UZ-SAT commits to dedicated capacity is not addressed in the announcement, and Amazon Leo's rollout, expected later this year, will test whether distribution signed ahead of service turns into revenue.