Amazon is in advanced talks to acquire satellite communications company Globalstar in a deal reportedly worth around $9 billion, according to the Financial Times. If completed, the acquisition would represent one of the biggest moves yet in the increasingly competitive battle between tech giants for dominance of the satellite internet market — a space currently led by Elon Musk’s SpaceX through its Starlink service.
Why Amazon Wants Globalstar
Amazon has been building its own satellite internet project, known as Project Kuiper, for several years. The initiative aims to deploy a constellation of over 3,000 low Earth orbit satellites to provide broadband internet to underserved and rural areas globally — essentially the same market Starlink has been rapidly capturing since it launched commercial service in 2021.
Acquiring Globalstar would give Amazon access to an existing operational satellite network, ground infrastructure, spectrum licences, and established customer relationships — all of which would significantly accelerate Project Kuiper’s development timeline. Building a satellite constellation from scratch is enormously expensive and time-consuming; buying an established operator shortcuts much of that process.
Globalstar’s network currently serves around 200 satellites and operates in a different frequency band from Starlink, which could offer Amazon complementary coverage capabilities. The company also has an existing relationship with Apple — which took a 20% stake in Globalstar in 2024 as part of a $1.5 billion investment to support the iPhone’s emergency satellite messaging feature — a relationship that adds complexity to any acquisition talks.
The Starlink Competition Context
SpaceX’s Starlink has emerged as the dominant player in consumer satellite internet with remarkable speed. In just a few years, it has gone from a beta service to a global operation with millions of subscribers across dozens of countries, including major deals with airlines, maritime operators, and even militaries. Its low-latency, high-speed service has proven genuinely transformative for users in areas where terrestrial broadband is unavailable or unreliable.
Amazon has consistently framed Project Kuiper as a direct competitor, but progress has been slower than originally planned. Regulatory requirements, launch vehicle availability — Amazon uses its own Blue Origin rockets alongside contracted launches — and the sheer technical complexity of deploying and managing a large satellite constellation have all contributed to delays.
An acquisition of Globalstar would immediately give Amazon a functioning space-based communications asset to build from. It would also signal an escalation in the space race between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, two of the world’s wealthiest individuals who have competed across multiple domains — electric vehicles, AI, and now satellite internet.
The Apple Complication
The most significant complication in any Amazon-Globalstar deal is Apple’s existing stake and operational relationship with the company. Apple’s emergency SOS via satellite feature — available on iPhone 14 and later — uses Globalstar’s network. Apple invested $1.5 billion to expand Globalstar’s capacity in exchange for prioritised access to its spectrum and network.
An Amazon acquisition would effectively put Apple’s satellite infrastructure in the hands of one of its most significant competitors. The negotiations around how to accommodate Apple’s interests — or buy them out — are likely to be a central and complex element of any deal talks. Reports suggest this complication is one reason discussions are still ongoing without a final agreement.
Market Reaction and What It Means
Financial markets responded enthusiastically to the initial reports. Globalstar shares surged more than 15% in extended trading following the FT’s report, eventually climbing as high as 24% at points during the trading session. The scale of the potential premium being discussed reflects both the strategic value Amazon would place on the acquisition and the negotiating leverage Globalstar holds given Apple’s involvement.
For investors and market watchers, the broader implication is clear: the satellite internet space is moving from an experimental to a genuinely strategic priority for the world’s biggest technology companies. As AI and data demands grow, reliable global connectivity — including in remote and underserved areas — becomes an increasingly valuable commodity. Amazon, with its enormous cloud computing business AWS, has particular reason to want ubiquitous connectivity infrastructure under its own control.
No deal has been formally announced, and discussions could still collapse. But if the Amazon-Globalstar acquisition completes, it would reshape the satellite internet landscape and mark a significant escalation in the competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.