Amazon has reportedly filed to place ground station infrastructure in Kenya.

Local press, including Business Daily and Further Africa, report that Amazon applied to the Communications Authority of Kenya to operate communications infrastructure and secure a 15-year international gateway license.

The company has applied to the regulator through its local subsidiary, Amazon Kuiper Kenya Limited.

Full details of where Amazon aims to deploy its ground station infrastructure haven’t been shared.

Previously known as Project Kuiper, Amazon Leo is the cloud and ecommerce giant’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite service. Hundreds of satellites are already in orbit, and the fleet is set to total more than 3,300 satellites and full build-out. Amazon has previously said it aims to deploy more than 300 ground stations globally to support the network.

The ground stations will reportedly be the company’s first in Africa for its Leo service, though Amazon Web Services offers ground station services to customers from Cape Town in South Africa, launching there in 2020. Globalstar, which is being acquired by Amazon, also has African satellite gateways in Gabon, Rwanda, and Botswana.

To date, Amazon has signed deals for Leo with the likes of Vodafone and Vodacom, Verizon, NBN Co., and Vrio, as well as Delta Airlines, JetBlue, and others. An AWS deal with mining company Gold Fields mentioned using what was then Kuiper for connectivity at its remote locations.

Rival LEO satellite operator Starlink launched a ground station site in Nairobi in 2025, likely at IXAfrica’s facility.

Kenya’s main teleport is the Broglio Space Center near Malindi, some 115km north of Mombasa.