Prime Highlights

• Amazon Leo partners with Herotel to launch a satellite broadband service, evry, targeting rural South Africa, with commercial launch set for 2027.  

• The deal comes as SpaceX’s Starlink also seeks entry into South Africa, pending changes to local ownership licensing rules.  

Key Facts

• Herotel, South Africa’s largest fixed internet provider, serves over 350,000 customers across 550+ towns and will manage installation and support for the new service.  

• Amazon Leo earlier partnered with Vodafone to connect base stations in remote parts of Africa via Vodacom. 

Background

Amazon’s low-earth orbit satellite internet venture, Amazon Leo, has signed a deal with South Africa’s Herotel to launch a new broadband service targeting underserved rural communities.

Under the agreement, Herotel, South Africa’s largest fixed internet provider, will use Amazon Leo’s satellite technology to launch a service called evry. The offering is set to reach residential customers commercially in 2027.

The partnership arrives as satellite internet providers compete for a foothold in Africa. SpaceX’s Starlink is also looking to enter the South African market but is waiting on proposed licensing changes that would let foreign satellite operators meet local ownership rules through options other than equity stakes.

Amazon Leo and Herotel said the deal would help close a long-running connectivity gap in South Africa. Millions of people in farming areas, small towns and rural communities still lack reliable internet access, largely because fibre and wireless networks are too costly to build in those regions. The companies did not disclose financial terms.

David Zapolsky, Amazon’s chief global affairs and legal officer, said the collaboration aims to remove barriers and open up opportunities for people who currently lack dependable access for work, education and essential services.

Herotel, owned by Maziv, serves more than 350,000 customers across over 550 towns through fibre and fixed wireless networks, operating 120 offices nationwide.

The company said this existing footprint would let it handle installation, customer service and field operations for the new satellite service from launch.

Earlier this year, Amazon Leo struck a separate agreement with Vodafone to connect its network to base stations in remote parts of Africa through Vodafone’s South African subsidiary, Vodacom.