Connected Economy Poised for Liftoff as Amazon Schedules Satellite Launches

For the connected economy to make the full leap from concept to mainstay of daily life, the infrastructure has to be in place.

Not just the hardware — the mobile devices, the tablets, the wearables, the VR headsets.

We’re talking here of the broadband itself, the high-speed internet access that brings data, video, and all manner of information to and from those devices.

The drive to expand broadband access — and, importantly, provide low-latency broadband globally — was underscored Tuesday (April 5) as Amazon’s space-based internet initiative, Project Kuiper, said it has several launches in place to get satellites into orbit.

Connected Economy, Rocket by Rocket 

For those satellites, as the eCommerce giant said in its April 5 announcement , Amazon has secured 83 launches on three rockets being launched by Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance.

“These agreements mean we have enough capacity to carry into space the majority of the 3,236 satellites that make up our satellite constellation,” Amazon said in the statement. The launches will be taking place over the next few years, and Amazon has said that the satellites will provide fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities. Amazon is working with Verizon to use the telecom’s network to bring that broadband access more fully into the field.

Read more: Amazon to Use Verizon Network for Satellite Fleet

Amazon’s satellite plans, as has been widely reported, have been bumping up, competitively, with Elon Musk’s Starlink system.

But beyond the competitive jockeying, the desire to take advantage of broadband and, by extension, a continuum of connected services through a “digital front door” is palpable.

As PYMNTS research has found, consumers have increasingly been embracing a life lived online, in connected fashion. As many as 67% of consumers would like to use a super app to manage their digital activities. In doing so, with an app as anchor, they can do everything from managing their finances to ordering food to getting their daily social media fix in one place.

Read also: How US Consumers Define the Super App

But getting a bit more granular, we see a bit of unevenness in the nascent formation of the connected economy. As has been evident in other PYMNTS research, the Pacific and South Atlantic regions of the U.S. have the highest levels of digital engagement as well as the highest levels of interest in super apps — used by 46% of daily activities. The lowest level of digital engagement, at 33%, has been recorded in the Midwest.

Consumer interest in using a super app is the highest in the South Atlantic region, where 65% of consumers report having any level of interest in a super app.

See: The Most Digitally Active Consumers Are Also Those Who Most Want A Super App

The interest is there, to be sure, and it’s broad-based — just waiting,  you might say, for the broadband.