On October 27, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Amazon.com, Inc. and Globalstar, Inc. consent to transfer control of Globalstar’s and its subsidiaries’ FCC authorizations to Amazon. The order authorizes a regulatory transfer; it does not itself complete the corporate acquisition. The FCC’s order DA 26-1160 cites Sections 214(a) and 310(d) of the Communications Act.
The approval carries an ongoing condition
The FCC conditioned its approval on Amazon’s continued compliance with existing 1999 and 2004 letters of agreement involving Globalstar entities, the U.S. Department of War, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FCC also denied a petition from former Globalstar customer Yippy, Inc., and an informal request from Dana Scioli. The agency said Yippy’s private contract dispute was being pursued in arbitration and fell outside the transfer proceeding. The ruling did not resolve that dispute.
What the order says about Amazon Leo and D2D
The FCC described Amazon’s plan to use Globalstar mobile-satellite service (MSS) spectrum and satellite infrastructure for a direct-to-device (D2D) system that would supplement Globalstar’s services. In the order, Amazon’s global D2D license application was pending.
The FCC’s public-interest finding was based on expected benefits: improved data coverage in unserved and underserved areas, stronger emergency communications, and support for industrial and enterprise data services. The agency also judged the likelihood of public-interest harm to be low, noting that Amazon Leo primarily provides fixed-satellite broadband while Globalstar primarily provides mobile-satellite services and related capacity. Those are different service types, the FCC said, and the companies did not currently compete for the same customers.
