Bridging the connectivity gap: Why the LEO satellite broadband industry matters for the global economy

Oxford Economics today released a report finding that expanded low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband services could add between $32 billion and $863 billion to global GDP by 2035 and support between 800,000 and 21 million jobs worldwide by 2035.

The report, titled "The Global Value of LEO Satellite Broadband Services," was commissioned by Amazon and examines the LEO satellite broadband industry broadly. The report models three scenarios through 2035—incremental, intermediate, and transformative—each reflecting different levels of LEO adoption.

“LEO satellite broadband has the potential to become an important complement to terrestrial networks by extending internet access to communities that have long been underserved by traditional infrastructure,” said Henry Worthington, Managing Director at Oxford Economics. “Our analysis shows that, under the right conditions, wider adoption could generate substantial economic benefits by improving productivity, supporting digital inclusion, and helping more people and businesses participate in the digital economy.”

“Behind every statistic in this report is a person—a student who will be able to participate in online learning, a small business owner that will be able to grow their business, a rural health clinic that will be able to access a specialist,” said Brian Huseman, vice president of public policy and community engagement. “This research from Oxford Economics puts real numbers to what's at stake: up to $863 billion in global GDP and 21 million jobs by 2035. Amazon is investing in Amazon Leo to bring digital opportunity to virtually all corners of the world.”

The Challenge: 2.6 Billion People Still Offline

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 32% of the world’s population—2.6 billion people—had no internet access in 2024. In low-income countries, a fixed broadband subscription can cost the equivalent of more than a quarter of average income, making affordability a critical barrier even where coverage exists.

Infrastructure gaps are just as stark. In 54 countries, at least a quarter of the population lives more than 25 km from the nearest fixed broadband node. Rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia face the greatest challenges, with networks that are either unavailable, unaffordable, or too slow for modern digital applications. Sub-Saharan Africa averages just 13.9 Mbps download speed—almost 10 times slower than Western Europe’s 142 Mbps average.

This disparity is not just a technology gap—it is an economic one. Oxford Economics’ research confirms that broadband penetration is highly correlated with GDP per capita and the Human Development Index. Closing the connectivity gap has direct implications for education, healthcare, businesses, and communities.

How LEO Satellites Are Different

Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites orbit roughly 60 times closer to Earth than traditional geostationary satellites, enabling high-speed, low-latency internet connections. This proximity makes LEO constellations uniquely capable of serving communities that terrestrial networks cannot reach economically.

• Reaches the unreachable: LEO satellites can extend connectivity to remote islands, mountainous regions, dense forests, and other hard-to-serve areas where building or maintaining terrestrial networks is impractical or prohibitively expensive.
• Low latency for real-time use: LEO satellites support video calls, telemedicine, digital payments, and other real-time applications.
• Emergency resilience: Because LEO links are space-based and insulated from terrestrial outages, power cuts, and physical damage, they are critical for disaster response and continuity of government services.
• Rapidly deployable at scale: LEO systems require far less ground infrastructure than fiber and can be activated faster in remote regions, offering more cost-effective last-mile connectivity as the network scales.
• Self-installation: Subscribers receive a dish and modem they can set up themselves—no specialized engineers or ground infrastructure teams required.

The Economic Opportunity: Three Scenarios for 2035

Oxford Economics modeled three scenarios reflecting different levels of LEO adoption. All figures are in constant 2025 U.S. dollars:

The economic gains are driven primarily by faster productivity growth as businesses benefit from digital tools, e-commerce, and data-driven processes, along with improved household incomes. Economies with large unserved populations stand to gain the most proportionally; advanced economies contribute the largest absolute GDP gains even from smaller improvements, reflecting the high productivity of their workforces.

Regional Highlights

• North America: Remote communities in northern Canada, rural U.S. regions, and parts of Mexico stand to benefit most. The report estimates GDP from productivity improvements in North America could rise to $297 billion by 2035 in the transformative scenario, supporting up to 1.4 million jobs.
• Latin America & the Caribbean: LEO could connect between 12 million and 50 million additional people, generating between $3.5 billion and $41 billion in GDP and supporting between 150,000 and 1.7 million jobs by 2035. Brazil's Amazon basin—where 22% of the population lives more than 25 km from fixed broadband—represents one of the most significant near-term opportunities.
• East Asia & the Pacific: Countries in this region stand to benefit the most globally, particularly island nations in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific. Large populations spread across thousands of islands remain offline due to challenging terrain and the high cost of terrestrial infrastructure.
• Europe & Central Asia: Sparsely populated and mountainous areas of Central Asia and the Caucasus will see the largest regional gains. Oxford Economics estimates GDP per capita in the region could rise by up to $228, supporting as many as 2.7 million jobs in the transformative scenario.
• Sub-Saharan Africa: LEO could encourage 14 million Sub-Saharan Africans to get online in the incremental scenario alone—people who would otherwise have no broadband access regardless of pricing, due to lack of infrastructure.