Amazon has disclosed plans to expand its satellite business with $11.57billion (£8.5billion) acquisition of United States telecommunication firm, Globalstar. The purchase of the satellite constellation operator, according to inside sources, which now rivals Elon Musk’s Starlink in satellite internet dominance, is aimed at building up Amazon’s Eart orbit internet and mobile phone services.
The deal, announced last week, will allow Amazon to get thousands of satellites into low-earth orbit through the Amazon Leo project the company has been working on for several years. The multinational technology corporation said the Globalstar acquisition fits its “long-term vision for space-based connectivity” and that it would deploy a “next generation” satellite system in 2028.
By doing so, Amazon will be in closer competition with Starlink, an increasingly popular satellite-based internet and phone service company launched by Elon Musk in 2019. Starlink has a significant head-start on Amazon’s Leo, which currently only has around 200 satellites in orbit.
Nonetheless, Musk’s company says it already has more than 10,000 active satellites offering internet and mobile phone service to more than 10 million paying customers. Starlink, a subsidiary of Musk’s SpaceX, is likely a significant source of revenue for that company, potentially bringing in between $500million and $1.2billion from individual user fees alone.
SpaceX is preparing to become a publicly listed company this year, with a valuation expected to exceed $1 trillion. Even with Globalstar’s currently active constellation of about 50 satellites, Amazon Leo will need to significantly ramp up production to meet its goal of thousands of active satellites in orbit by 2028.
Amazon chief executive, Andy Jassy said last week, in an annual letter to shareholders, that Leo already has commitments from Delta Airlines, JetBlue, AT&T, Vodafone, DIRECTV Latin America, Australia’s National Broadband Network, and NASA to use Leo satellites for their offerings and operations once more satellites come online.
Amazon is taking over all of Globalstar’s infrastructure, which includes operations in Louisiana, Georgia, Dublin, Ireland, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Toulouse, France, and two locations in California. Globalstar, which started in 1991 as a satellite communications company, has a notable customer in Apple, through which it has offered since 2022.
iPhone and Apple Watch users have the ability to use their devices in an emergency “SOS” mode via its satellites. Apple in 2024 took a 20 percent stake in Globalstar. But Amazon indicated last week that it had also reached an agreement with Apple to continue offering the “SOS” functionality on its mobile devices.
