Herotel chosen as Amazon Leo distributor in Maziv race for satellite internet

If you remember anything from this (and the many other news stories you read when the embargo lifts), it’s that Herotel, a subsidiary of Maziv, announced a distribution agreement with Amazon Leo (the space internet startup formerly known as Project Kuiper).

This will manifest for customers as a service under Herotel’s newly unveiled evry (with the equally cringeworthy tagline “Evryone. Evrywhere.”) and positions Herotel as an authorised distributor of Amazon’s Starlink fighting low Earth orbit (Leo) satellite services to residential customers and small businesses across SA.

In the media briefing, the new connectivity bedfellows explained that the primary purpose of the agreement was to “extend high-speed internet beyond the reach of traditional fibre and fixed-wireless networks, specifically targeting agricultural, rural, and peri-urban communities”.

“evry represents the next chapter in what Herotel has been building for more than a decade,” Herotel CEO Van Zyl Botha said of the strange company ambitions to launch a product with a lowercase moniker.

“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. With evry, powered by Amazon Leo, we will reach the customers that even fibre and fixed wireless cannot serve.”

Cleared for takeoff

Similarly, David Zapolsky, Amazon’s chief global affairs and legal officer – who is in town for the landmark announcement – parroted a shared vision in the subsequent press statement:

“Amazon Leo and Herotel share the same mission to empower all South Africans through access to high-speed internet. Herotel has spent years building connectivity across South Africa’s farming towns, small businesses, and communities on the outskirts, and with Amazon Leo, they can now reach even more people.”

The commercial launch of the evry service is officially slated for 2027. While pricing details and specific packages remain unannounced, both parties have made clear their intent to target a substantial and underserved market segment.

Which only leaves one question: Why can Amazon get a deal, but Starlink can’t?

Because unlike SpaceX’s Starlink, which has faced severe licensing delays – although it must be said that Elon Musk’s service has not actually applied for a licence yet – over the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act’s 30% local ownership requirements, Amazon Leo is bypassing direct licensing hurdles.

Trevor Vieweg, global head of the Amazon Leo business, clarified that “Herotel will be holding the licences in this agreement” and “Amazon is not going to require a licence from the regulator here [read: Icasa]”.

A debt to civil society

The Herotel x Amazon Leo agreement does not exist in a vacuum; it must operate within the strict boundaries of two major competition rulings: the Vumatel/Herotel acquisition order and the Vodacom/Maziv merger approval agreement.

With regards to the terms and conditions of the Vumatel purchase of Herotel, if Herotel chooses to package evry as a wholesale service to other internet service providers (ISPs), it is legally obligated to provide it on an open-access, transparent, and non-discriminatory basis.

If it operates evry strictly as a retail-only product, it avoids these wholesale open-access requirements, although any internal transfer pricing to other Maziv entities (like Vumatel or Vodacom) must be fully transparent and set at standard rate card prices.

When you consider the context of the Vodacom/Maziv saga, Vumatel is legally bound to maintain its pre-merger capital expenditure plans (as per the FY2026 budget) for five years to ensure it does not decrease physical fibre rollout in lower-income areas in favour of deploying Herotel’s network.

Vodacom is also legally bound to execute R60-billion in capital expenditure within five years post-merger to achieve 90% 5G population coverage, committing to build at least 564 new 5G sites annually.

And Maziv must pass 1,000,000 homes in lower income areas with fibre within five years, keeping wholesale pricing low enough to ensure affordable access.

A key part of the puzzle

And then there’s also the matter of Vodacom’s preexisting relationship with Amazon through an investment in the Project Kuiper development cycle – the one they were bragging about at Africa Tech Festival in 2023.

In September 2023, Vodafone and Vodacom announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon’s Project Kuiper (now Amazon Leo) to leverage the Leo network to extend the reach of 4G and 5G services in Europe and Africa.

Then in March this year, a definitive agreement was signed that reflects the commercial name change. Under this deal, Vodafone and Vodacom will install Amazon Leo customer terminals directly alongside remote cellular masts.

So instead of laying expensive, geographically challenging terrestrial fibre or building multi-hop microwave links back to the core network, Amazon Leo provides high-speed satellite backhaul for the cell towers.

This allows Vodacom to roll out 4G and 5G towers in deep rural areas affordably and rapidly. The service supports high-speed backhaul of up to 1Gbps download and 400Mbps upload per site.

This was confirmed by Vieweg’s response to Daily Maverick’s follow-up questions on email:

“We have previously announced backhaul agreements with Vodafone and Vanu. Neither are an investment partners. This [partnership with Herotel] is the first authorised distributor we’ve announced in Africa.”

Claiming the advantage

If you add in Vodafone’s 2024 investment into space-based cellular broadband network pioneers AST SpaceMobile, Amazon’s $11.57-billion acquisition of Globestar for its S-band spectrum in April this year, and Amazon’s deal to be the primary satellite connectivity partner for Apple on the iPhone and Apple Watch, Vodacom has quietly moved into the pole position in the race to space internet.

For real. By structuring the deal so that Herotel (a locally registered, fully compliant Maziv subsidiary) holds the telecom licences, Amazon Leo effectively bypasses the BEE roadblock.

This gives Vodacom, Maziv and Herotel a crucial multi-year window to lock in rural households, farms, and small businesses under the evry banner starting in 2027, capturing the high-value market before Starlink can legally clear its regulatory hurdles or even get out the starting blocks.

And Vodacom is also the partner for Starlink in other southern African territories. Well played. DM