With the acquisition of Globalstar and a strategic partnership with Apple, Amazon is crossing a threshold in building its infrastructure. The group is not just adding satellite capacity to its portfolio: it is extending an infrastructure already widely deployed on the ground by integrating the building block it was missing, namely global coverage, independent of terrestrial networks.
An acquisition that targets rare assets
And it’s not just satellites that Amazon is acquiring, but a set of assets that are difficult to replicate: spectrum licenses, international regulatory approvals, and operational expertise built over several decades.
In the telecoms economy, spectrum constitutes a strategic resource. Without access to these frequency bands, no communication service can be deployed on a large scale. With Globalstar, Amazon ensures an execution capacity that few players can claim.
This acquisition strengthens the Amazon Leo project, intended to deploy a constellation of satellites in low orbit. Until now positioned on internet access, the project is changing dimension.
The satellite comes out of its niche
The switch is contained in an acronym: D2D, for Direct-to-Device, behind this technical formulation, It is a question of establishing a direct link between satellites and smartphones.
By 2028, Amazon plans to deploy a system capable of supporting messaging, voice and data services directly on consumer devices. The objective of making satellite an ordinary component of connectivity.
Apple, lever of distribution and legitimation
In this acquisition, Apple occupies a central position, because the manufacturer already uses Globalstar’s capabilities for its emergency services on iPhone. The agreement with Amazon strengthens the relationship between the two companies, of which Apple already uses certain infrastructure bricks.
The two companies find themselves around common interests, on the one hand, Amazon benefits from immediate access to a massive installed base, on the other, Apple secures a supplier capable of supporting a rise in satellite uses.
This partnership may suggest a gradual extension towards broader functionalities, as technical capabilities allow.
Diffuse pressure on operators
Officially, if the discourse remains that of complementarity, where satellite would fill the gaps in terrestrial networks, particularly in sparse or difficult to access areas, in fact, Amazon and its partners are creating a partial alternative to the telecom operators’ model. In the medium term, it could reshape certain segments of the market, in particular those linked to coverage and critical uses.
If operators maintain decisive advantages in capacity and latency. But they see competition emerging which is not located on the same technological layers, and therefore not on the same regulatory levers.
An infrastructure with a strategic dimension
Beyond the general public market, the development of D2D opens up broader perspectives. Connectivity independent of terrestrial networks is of obvious interest for companies operating in constrained environments, but also for States.
Crisis management, continuity of communications, coordination of operations in isolated areas: the use cases go far beyond simple messaging. As these infrastructures expand, they tend to become critical elements in a world under stress.
This development raises questions of sovereignty. The ability to communicate in all circumstances, across the globe, increasingly relies on systems operated by private actors, whose investment and governance logics partly escape national frameworks.
Competition already established
Amazon is not moving into virgin territory; SpaceX has already demonstrated the commercial viability of low-orbit constellations with Starlink, and is developing its own direct connection capabilities to terminals. Other players, such as AST SpaceMobile, are pursuing similar strategies.
Amazon’s uniqueness has less to do with technology than with its model. Where some favor speed of deployment, the group is building an architecture integrated into its ecosystem, capable of articulating with its other activities.
Towards invisible connectivity
By acquiring Globalstar for around $11.57 billion (nearly €9.8 billion), Amazon is playing the pragmatist card with an asset offering it much more than infrastructure: access to spectrum, an already established regulatory framework and the capacity for immediate execution in a market that is still structuring. There remains the price to pay.
Because beyond the cost of the operation, it is a long-term industrial and political commitment that begins. Deploying, maintaining and operating a large-scale satellite constellation requires continuous investments, increased exposure to regulatory arbitrage and direct confrontation with already established players like SpaceX.
As these infrastructures become more important, another question emerges: that of control. Who will control the conditions of access to connectivity tomorrow, the incumbent operators, the States, or the platforms capable of redrawing its contours from space?
