Amazon Leo satellite internet coming to South Africa via Herotel
Herotel has been appointed the first authorised distributor of Amazon’s Leo satellite internet service in South Africa, with a launch planned for 2027 under a new brand called Evry. The deal hands Herotel responsibility for ICASA licensing, a route Starlink has not taken in over a year of trying to enter the market under its own name. Herotel was recently bought by Maziv, which is jointly owned by Remgro’s CIVH and Vodacom.
Residential and business broadband provider Herotel will distribute Amazon’s Leo satellite internet service in South Africa from 2027, after being confirmed this week as the first authorised Amazon Leo distributor in the country.
Amazon Leo is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service often described as a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink. Herotel chief executive officer Van Zyl Botha said the company will sell the service under a new product line called Evry, aimed at connecting households and small businesses in areas where fibre and mobile networks are not practical.
“Evry represents the next chapter in what Herotel has been building for more than a decade,” Botha said. “We have always believed that South Africans outside the major metros, whether on farms, in small towns, in townships, or in rural communities, deserve reliable, affordable internet.”
What the service will offer
Like Starlink, Amazon Leo works through a dish with a phased-array antenna that communicates directly with satellites in orbit, without a cable connection or a nearby tower.
Amazon Leo global business head Trevor Vieweg said the service is expected to launch in South Africa in 2027, following the initial rollout of commercial services at other latitudes later in 2026. He said the residential service should support speeds of up to 400Mbps, with a business tier offering up to 1Gbps, and latencies of around 50 milliseconds. Pricing has not yet been confirmed.
Amazon Leo had roughly 400 satellites in operation by July 2026, compared to Starlink’s fleet of over 12000. Interested users can register their details on evry.co.za to be notified when the service launches through Herotel.
Herotel’s reach and ownership
Herotel recently became South Africa’s largest fibre internet provider, with over 350000 active customers across more than 550 towns, cities and suburbs. The company grew out of a merger of numerous smaller wireless internet providers, many of which operated in smaller towns and remote areas that larger fibre operators had not reached.
Herotel was recently acquired by Maziv, which owns Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa. Maziv is jointly owned by Remgro’s CIVH and Vodacom. The Amazon Leo distribution deal therefore gives two of South Africa’s largest telecoms shareholders commercial exposure to low earth orbit satellite internet, without either company operating a satellite network of its own.
According to Vieweg, Herotel will handle all regulatory aspects of the service, including licensing with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Amazon has also entered into a distribution partnership with Vodacom, though that arrangement is currently focused on other African countries rather than South Africa. Vieweg said Amazon Leo plans to resell its service through more partners in South Africa in future, but will initially focus on its offering through Herotel.
A different path to the same regulatory problem
Starlink has faced a prolonged regulatory standoff in South Africa. Telecoms law requires operators to have at least 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged South Africans under Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) rules, a condition SpaceX has not met because it does not sell equity in its local operations.
Communications Minister Solly Malatsi issued a policy direction in December 2025 instructing ICASA to accept Equity Equivalent Investment Programmes (EEIPs), which would let companies invest in local projects instead of transferring shares, as an alternative route to compliance. On 13 May 2026, ICASA said it could not implement that alternative without an amendment to the Electronic Communications Act itself. Starlink has still not filed a formal licence application in South Africa.
Amazon Leo has avoided that impasse entirely by distributing through Herotel, an already-licensed South African company, rather than applying for its own network and service licences. Herotel carries the regulatory responsibility, while Amazon supplies the satellite capacity.
The arrangement suggests that South Africa’s ownership requirements have not been an outright barrier to foreign LEO satellite operators, only to those unwilling to operate through a South African partner.
On the ground support
Herotel chief commercial officer Estiaan Ferreira said the Amazon Leo partnership followed years of hearing from customers who wanted reliable internet but had no practical option. “Evry will give farms, game reserves, rural homes and underserved communities a practical way to get online, with Herotel teams available to support them on the ground,” Ferreira said.
Herotel said Evry will be supported by its existing operating base, including local installation, customer service, field operations and support teams across 120 offices nationwide.
