Amazon Tests Satellite Broadband for Army; MetTel and Orange Expand Connectivity
Amazon completed a satellite broadband trial with the U.S. Army’s C5ISR Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, using its Leo Pro phased-array antenna and operational LEO satellites to reach peak downloads above 400 Mbps. MetTel expanded its private network backbone to 20 nodes across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and said its legacy telephone replacement platform now serves more than 1,000 business and government customers. Orange introduced an automated backup service in France that switches compatible Livebox broadband traffic to a customer’s smartphone hotspot when the fiber connection fails.
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Amazon’s demonstration took place at Aberdeen Proving Ground with the Army’s C5ISR Center. Its Leo Pro phased-array antenna linked to active LEO satellites, reaching peak downloads above 400 Mbps. Amazon says it has built over 1,000 satellites, with almost 400 in orbit, and the system uses inter-satellite optical links, ground gateways and fiber. More than 30 Army representatives observed; later tests may cover faster links, mobility and military network integration. No commercial contract was announced.
MetTel’s private backbone now spans 20 nodes across four regions, supporting international managed services, mobility and distributed operations. Its legacy telephone replacement platform serves over 1,000 business and government customers across hundreds of thousands of sites. The company is growing New York operations and building a Salt Lake City-area logistics site to double supply-chain capacity, with 100-plus technology roles planned. Orange’s French service, using SoftAtHome’s Always’ON, lets compatible Livebox gateways shift household traffic to a phone hotspot during fiber faults or maintenance, without reconfiguring devices. Adoption, investment and restoration metrics were not disclosed.
Count? First paragraph: Amazon’s(1) demonstration2 took3 place4 at5 Aberdeen6 Proving7 Ground8 with9 the10 Army’s11 C5ISR12 Center13. Its14 Leo15 Pro16 phased-array17 antenna18 linked19 to20 active21 LEO22 satellites23, reaching24 peak25 downloads26 above27 40028 Mbps29