The sudden emergence of a space race involving Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, the FCC, and a few anxious regulators in Washington around a Louisiana telecom company nestled in Covington seems a little odd. Globalstar is not a well-known brand.
The majority of users are unaware that they are utilizing its services; Globalstar’s network powers the iPhone’s SOS feature, which pings a satellite when you’re stranded somewhere without service. Amazon now wants to pay almost twelve billion dollars for the entire thing.
| Bio Data / Key Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Acquirer | Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) |
| Target Company | Globalstar, Inc. (GSAT) |
| Deal Value | $11.57 billion |
| Globalstar Headquarters | Covington, Louisiana |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Employees | 450+ |
| Industry | Satellite communications, low Earth orbit (LEO) services |
| Notable Client | Apple — powers iPhone and Apple Watch emergency SOS |
| Amazon’s Satellite Project | Project Kuiper / Leo network |
| Satellites Deployed (of 3,236 promised) | 243 |
| Regulator in Focus | Federal Communications Commission |
| Main Rival | SpaceX Starlink (around 10,000 satellites) |
On paper, the deal might make perfect sense. It is evident that Amazon has been having difficulty catching up to Starlink. Only 243 of the more than 3,000 satellites the company promised in 2019 have been installed thus far. That gap is a chasm, not a tiny one. As this develops, it seems like Amazon is attempting to purchase infrastructure, time, and credibility all at once in the hopes that a pre-built constellation can fill the void left by its own rockets.
Founded in 1991, Globalstar has spent decades discreetly developing a satellite network for sectors like construction, energy, fleet tracking, and agriculture that most people never consider. This type of business is utilitarian and unglamorous, operating in the background.
Then Apple arrived, picked up the phone, and made Globalstar more noticeable. By all accounts, the Covington offices continue to feel more like a local telecom company than a player in the global tech war. This deal feels so strange in part because of that contrast.
As expected, the FTC is taking its time. Regulators have been circling Amazon for years, and there’s a feeling that any acquisition this size, particularly one involving national infrastructure and wireless airwaves, will be subject to drawn-out, uncomfortable scrutiny. FCC Chair Brendan Carr told CNBC that the agency is “very open-minded,” which is typically the opposite of laid-back. Amazon has requested a two-year extension on its July deadline to launch about 1,600 satellites, and Carr has already publicly criticized the company’s slow deployment pace. Additionally, the FCC has not yet made a decision regarding that request.
Analysts appear doubtful that the Globalstar acquisition will truly address Amazon’s primary issue, which is rockets rather than satellites. Gregory Radisic of Bond University stated, “The gap remains structural, not just numerical, unless Amazon can solve deployment speed and launch access.” It must hurt somewhere in Blue Origin’s offices that the company has even been compelled to rent space on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. The New Glenn vehicle, which Bezos’s own rocket company launched for the first time in January 2025, is far from having the cadence required to launch an entire constellation. Years ago, Tesla encountered similar skepticism, and it took longer than anticipated to allay them.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that this has nothing to do with Globalstar. It concerns Musk, size, and Amazon’s ability to maintain a significant position at the satellite-internet table. Spending eleven billion dollars to catch up is a significant amount of money.