Amazon has agreed to pay more than $11.5 billion to expand its satellite constellation by about two dozen units with the acquisition of Globalstar. But it's more about the underlying technology that Amazon hopes will help it catch Elon Musk's Starlink.
The Bezos behemoth announced its purchase of venerable mobile satellite services (MSS) operator Globalstar on Tuesday, saying the deal will help Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) expand into direct-to-device services using Globalstar’s spectrum, satellites, and operating expertise.
With only 24 operational satellites, Amazon is not buying anything close to a Starlink-scale rival. SpaceX already has roughly 10,000 satellites in orbit and vastly greater network capacity. As of earlier this month, Amazon Leo had 241 satellites in the skies above the Earth; 24 more isn't exactly getting Bezos' Musk alternative any closer to scale.
But there's more to the picture.
Globalstar has been around since 1991, and it's come up with a bundle of tech in the meantime. It also has licenses for spectrum that will be valuable as Amazon seeks to enter the direct-to-device space where Starlink is already playing.
Licensing in the satellite space can be tricky, and Amazon has already tangled with SpaceX in spectrum fights before. But Globalstar has what it describes as "exclusive access" to the midband spectrum. Specifically, Globalstar operates in what's known as Band 53, a block of spectrum from 2483.5 to 2495 MHz, which the company says is licensed exclusively to it and is "optimized for high-performance, low-latency, interference-free connectivity." In other words, it's well-suited to direct-to-device communication, extending coverage beyond cell towers wherever compatible satellites happen to be overhead.
Once the deal closes, which is expected next year, Band 53 will be part of Amazon Leo's portfolio too. That'll give the nascent satellite internet operator renewed vigor in its race against SpaceX, though it still has a long way to catch up. Leo hasn't even begun to offer service yet since it hasn't reached a critical mass of live satellites.
The major uncertainty in the Amazon-Globalstar deal, as noted when rumors began to swirl last week, is Apple. The iDevice maker owns 20 percent of Globalstar, which serves as the satellite backbone for Apple's emergency SOS satellite offering on iPhone and Apple Watch devices.
Had Apple not acquiesced, the deal could have died, but it appears the three parties have reached an accord.
"Amazon will continue to support iPhone and Apple Watch models currently using Globalstar's existing and planned upcoming low Earth orbit satellite constellations ... and collaborate with Apple on future satellite services using Amazon Leo's expanded satellite network," Amazon explained in its release.
In other words, Amazon is taking on responsibility for Globalstar's Apple deal, and customers shouldn't see a change – for now, at least. That, and Apple stands to get paid $90 a share for its stake in Globalstar when the deal closes sometime next year, so it's win-win for Cook and Co.
Amazon declined to answer specific questions about the deal, only telling us that Globalstar will continue to operate as a subsidiary once it joins the fold. ®
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