Amazon Acquires Globalstar for $11.57 Billion to Challenge Starlink in Orbital Mobile Connectivity

E-commerce and technology giant Amazon is making a major competitive push into the orbital mobile connectivity market, a sector currently dominated by Elon Musk’s Starlink. On Tuesday, the company announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire satellite operator Globalstar — the firm best known for powering Apple’s “Emergency SOS” satellite feature — in an all-cash deal valued at $11.57 billion.

The transaction is priced at $90 per Globalstar share, and will grant Amazon full ownership of Globalstar’s entire satellite operations, physical ground infrastructure, and full portfolio of mobile satellite services spectrum licenses. The acquisition allows Amazon to expand its burgeoning in-house satellite initiative, Amazon Leo, adding mature direct-to-device connectivity capabilities ahead of Amazon Leo’s planned commercial launch later this year.

The acquisition announcement arrives just days after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy publicly highlighted Amazon Leo’s growing roster of blue-chip clients, which includes Delta Airlines, AT&T, Vodafone, Australia’s National Broadband Network, and NASA. Just one day before the deal announcement, on Monday, Amazon also unveiled a new custom satellite internet antenna built exclusively for commercial jets, designed to deliver consistent high-speed connectivity for passengers during flights.

Amazon Leo’s full operational network is planned to host more than 3,200 satellites in low-Earth orbit, but the program has faced notable deployment delays. To date, only roughly 200 satellites have been successfully launched into orbit, forcing Amazon to formally request an extension from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for a key regulatory deadline that required the company to have approximately 1,600 satellites in orbit by July this year.

By comparison, Starlink has already built a far larger, more established footprint in the satellite internet space. The company currently operates more than 10,000 satellites across the globe, delivering internet services to both retail consumers and business clients across roughly 150 countries, including customers in the maritime and aviation sectors.

Globalstar currently operates more than 24 of its own satellites in low-Earth orbit, and has already secured binding agreements to add more than 50 new satellites to its constellation. The company also holds an existing launch contract with SpaceX to deploy replacement satellites for its current network this year.

Alongside confirming the Globalstar acquisition, Amazon announced it has struck a new long-term agreement with Apple to continue providing satellite connectivity services for the iPhone and Apple Watch product lines. Globalstar currently powers satellite-based features for Apple including emergency text messaging, roadside assistance requests, and location sharing, available on iPhone 14 and newer devices in select regions around the world.

Looking ahead to its long-term roadmap, Amazon Leo plans to deploy its own custom-built direct-to-device satellite system starting in 2028, which will integrate fully with Amazon’s existing broadband and satellite network infrastructure. The company says it aims to build out a network of “thousands of advanced satellites in low-Earth orbit” that will be capable of supporting hundreds of millions of customer endpoints across the globe.