The Federal Communications Commission approved Amazon Leo’s US$11.5 billion agreement to acquire satellite operator Globalstar, giving Amazon a major regulatory clearance in its effort to build a communications network that can challenge SpaceX’s Starlink. The approval advances the transaction, although regulatory authorization should not be confused with evidence that every closing step has already been completed.
Amazon Leo brings a rapidly expanding low-Earth-orbit constellation to the combination. It has launched nearly 400 satellites since April 2025, plans to deploy thousands by 2029 and has asked the FCC for authority covering as many as 5,105 satellites. Amazon has committed more than US$10 billion to Leo and is preparing commercial services for the end of 2026.
Globalstar contributes assets that are scarce and difficult to reproduce quickly: roughly two dozen operating satellites and licensed mobile-satellite spectrum. Those resources can accelerate Amazon’s entry into direct-to-device connectivity, in which ordinary smartphones and other terminals communicate directly with satellites, while also supporting fixed and mobile broadband services that use dedicated equipment.
The competitive gap remains substantial. Starlink operates more than 11,000 satellites and already has a large commercial base, whereas Amazon is still moving from deployment toward service. Buying Globalstar does not immediately equalize constellation size, but it can add spectrum rights, operating experience, customer relationships and a path into phone-based connectivity that would take time to assemble organically.
Apple is central to the transaction’s continuity risk. Globalstar provides satellite features including Emergency SOS and Find My for iPhone and Apple Watch users. Apple invested about US$1.5 billion in 2024, received a 20% equity stake and accounted for roughly 63% of Globalstar’s revenue last year, making preservation of that relationship economically important.
Amazon says it has reached an agreement with Apple to keep those safety services operating and plans to acquire Apple’s Globalstar stake. That arrangement limits the danger that the takeover disrupts existing users, but implementation quality, capacity allocation and future commercial terms will determine whether continuity is as durable in practice as it is in the agreement.
The deal also interacts with public spectrum policy. The FCC is preparing a vote to advance a wireless-spectrum auction intended to support direct-to-device services. More available spectrum could broaden competition, yet deployment will still depend on handset compatibility, terrestrial-network partnerships, orbital capacity, interference controls and the economics of serving low-density or disconnected areas.
The next evidence will be the transaction’s formal closing, integration milestones, service launch, satellite deployment, spectrum use and performance of the Apple agreement. The FCC decision establishes that the agency accepts the combination’s communications-policy case; it does not by itself prove that Amazon can match Starlink’s scale, meet its 2029 timetable or earn an adequate return on the capital committed.
