Amazon Leo had formally complained (via a March 9th filing) to the FCC about SpaceX’s plans for ‘1 million satellites’ (see our report on March 11th). The complaint did not go down well with FCC chairman Brendan Carr.

Carr, in a highly-public comment posted on X, said: “I think Amazon should focus on getting Amazon’s house in order with their own launches and their own satellite constellation, rather than worrying about other people that are actually out there launching satellites at the pace and cadence that SpaceX is.”

Commissioner Carr added: “Given the pace at which Amazon is launching satellites, I can see why they would think it would take other people centuries to launch,” Carr said. “I don’t anticipate ‌the ⁠Amazon filing will get much traction here.”

Amazon officially faces a July 2026 key milestone target. Observers suggest that by July this year, Amazon Leo will have launched around 700 craft, not the required and obligatory 1,618 satellites.

One financial analyst from Summit Ridge Group described the Carr statement as “brutal”.

Amazon had said that it would take SpaceX “centuries” to launch one million satellites, but supporters of SpaceX suggested that once Elon Musk has started regular launches of his giant Starship it would take five to 10 years to deploy one million craft.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Business, Policy, Regulation, Satellite

Tags: amazon leo, Brendan Carr, elon musk, spacex