alt Hacker NewsAmazon to buy satellite firm Globalstar in $11.57B deal
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The link didn't work for me.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-agency-app...
US agency approves Amazon Leo’s $11.5 billion acquisition of Globalstar By David Shepardson October 27, 2026
Previous discussion about the deal on HN (119 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47775183
The news is that the FCC approved the acquisition. It was already announced back in April that Amazon would be purchasing Globalstar. I don’t think anyone expected it to be held up by regulators.
Edit: proper link to it https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-agency-app...
The deal was announced in April. It just got FCC approval.
Every satellite internet provider other than Starlink is complete garbage. Slow, unreliable, useless.
Just use Thuraya or Inmarsat.
On the same note: https://investors.globalstar.com/news-releases/news-release-...
The new direct-to-device network Amazon is getting their hands on is now approved and live on the air.
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Globalstar is a study in corporate survival. It lives on while its 90’s cohort Iridium didn’t make it.
Consider the journey:
2002: Bankruptcy.
2007: Satellite amplifier failures threatened its voice service.
2010–2013: A replacement constellation helped restore capacity.
2022: Apple's iPhone Emergency SOS gave Globalstar a major new purpose.
2024: Apple committed approximately $1.5 billion in investment and infrastructure funding.
Now: This acquisition by Amazon would bring Globalstar's satellite assets and spectrum into Amazon's competition with Starlink, while preserving satellite services for Apple devices.
Iridium has a museum: iridium museum.com