Amazon Acquires Globalstar: A $11.6 Billion Shift to Spectrum-as-a-Service and the Apple Ecosystem

The timing of this deal reflects the velocity of D2D market formation. Deloitte observes in their 2026 TMT Predictions that spending on D2D network infrastructure should reach between $6 billion to $8 billion by 2026. And that the year will see over 1,000 D2D-capable satellites in orbit providing low-bandwidth connectivity services. SpaceX's Starlink has a well-established first-mover advantage with over 650 direct-to-cell satellites and a commercial service launched with T-Mobile in July 2025 - as well as its own path to orbit vertically integrated with SpaceX.

At the same time AST SpaceMobile has signed definitive commercial agreements with both AT&T and Verizon, targeting phased D2D service activation throughout 2026 with a planned constellation of 45 to 60 BlueBird satellites. AST's approach is architecturally distinct from both Starlink and Amazon Leo: its Block 2 BlueBird 6 satellite, deployed in December 2025, features a 2,400-square-foot phased array antenna that is 3.5 times larger than its first-generation predecessors, potentially offering higher per-satellite throughput at the cost of constellation scale. Whether that trade-off favors AST or the higher-count constellation strategies pursued by SpaceX and Amazon remains one of the open engineering questions in the D2D market.

Amazon's entry into D2D through acquisition rather than organic development signals recognition that spectrum scarcity is the binding constraint versus launch capacity, although Amazon faces continuing challenges here. Globalstar's Band n53 spectrum could be the strategic chip enabling Amazon to bypass years of regulatory proceedings and immediately establish a D2D-competitive position. Notably, the spectrum competition underlying this deal is unlikely to settle with the Globalstar transaction alone.

SpaceX continues efforts to lobby the FCC to open EchoStar's 2 GHz band for sharing and the company has floated interest in the upper C-band spectrum the agency would like to see put to more intensive use. Those regulatory proceedings suggest the contest for D2D-suitable frequencies will intensify regardless of the Globalstar acquisition outcome, and Amazon's newly secured spectrum portfolio may face adjacency challenges from a competitor with considerable regulatory momentum.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's public statement that the agency is very open-minded to the acquisition is a key tell here. It suggests the regulatory pathway may be smoother than typical transactions of this scale. Not really a surprise because the regulatory posture has shifted in recent years away from viewing satellite D2D as a commercial feature and more towards regarding satellite D2D as critical infrastructure. The real-world demonstration of this shift? During Hurricanes Helene and Milton, SpaceX activated direct-to-phone connectivity for communities whose terrestrial networks had been destroyed, offering emergency communications when nothing else was available. That experience appears to have shifted regulatory framing around D2D from competitive telecommunications policy toward disaster resilience and digital divide priorities, a tailwind that benefits Amazon's deal rationale and the broader D2D sector.

We observe that the Apple relationship transforms the deal from a satellite infrastructure play into an ecosystem play: Amazon is now positioned as an infrastructure provider to the world's most valuable consumer device platform while simultaneously building its own D2D service for mobile network operators. So far, plays by SpaceX and AST Spacemobile have focused on MNOs only. That dual positioning, serving both Apple and MNOs, is architecturally unusual in the satellite industry and could prove to be either a competitive moat or a governance complexity as service priorities evolve.