The short version

• On 27 October 2026 three FCC offices, led by the Space Bureau, approved the transfer of Globalstar’s US licences and authorisations to Amazon in Order DA 26-1160, finding no material public interest harm.
• The only condition is that Amazon keeps to two national security letters of agreement that Globalstar signed with the Defense Department, the Justice Department and the FBI in 1999 and 2004.
• A former customer’s petition was denied because the FCC will not referee private contract disputes, and a late objection to its jurisdiction failed because Amazon has no reportable foreign ownership.
• The deal has not closed. Globalstar’s 5 November filing says closing depends on French authorisations for its planned C-3 constellation and is expected in 2027.

The Amazon Globalstar FCC approval came on 27 October 2026, and most coverage treated it as the end of the road for Amazon’s $11.57 billion purchase of the company that carries emergency texts for iPhones. It is the end of the US licensing review. It is not the end of the deal.

I have read the order and Globalstar’s latest quarterly report. Both show a transaction that cleared Washington easily, on a narrow condition, while its closing still waits on a regulator in Paris. If you advise satellite operators on mergers, financing or spectrum, the order is also a clean example of how the FCC now reviews a space deal under delegated authority.

What the FCC decided

The Order (DA 26-1160) was adopted and released on 27 October 2026 in GN Docket No. 26-134. It was signed by the chiefs of the Space Bureau, the Office of Engineering and Technology and the Office of International Affairs, acting under delegated authority, not by a vote of the Commissioners.

It grants consent under sections 214(a) and 310(d) of the Communications Act for Amazon to take 100% control of Globalstar, its subsidiaries and their authorisations. Globalstar becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon and an affiliate of Kuiper Systems LLC, the entity behind Amazon Leo. The Globalstar licensee companies keep their corporate identities and their licences.

The grant covers more than the existing fleet. Earlier in October the Space Bureau gave Globalstar US market access for its C-3 System, a planned constellation of 48 non-geostationary satellites licensed by France. The order extends the transfer approval to that grant too, at the applicants’ request.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the agency “has empowered Amazon Leo to deliver fast, next-gen satellite broadband services”, according to Reuters.

The test the bureaus applied

Section 310(d) of the Communications Act bars any transfer of control of a radio licence unless the FCC finds that it serves “the public interest, convenience, and necessity”. The order walks through the usual three steps: whether the parties are qualified and the deal breaks no statute or rule, whether it causes public interest harm, and whether its benefits outweigh any harm.

The first step was quick. No one challenged either company’s qualifications, and both already hold FCC licences.

On harm, the bureaus found nothing horizontal and nothing vertical. Globalstar sells mobile-satellite service (MSS) in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands: messaging, asset tracking, emergency links and wholesale capacity for Apple devices. Amazon Leo sells fixed broadband through Ka-, Ku- and V-band terminals. The order says they “do not currently compete to provide the same satellite services”, and neither supplies the other. Amazon, it adds, holds no L-band or S-band spectrum that could reach a smartphone without special hardware.

On benefits, the bureaus credited three claims: that the deal gives Amazon a practical path into direct-to-device (D2D) service, that a bigger and newer fleet will use Globalstar’s spectrum more intensively, and that Amazon’s capital will improve service in unserved areas. The comparison of scale is stark. The order says the FCC has approved 7,736 Amazon satellites, against up to 26 for Globalstar.

One condition, and it is about national security

The grant carries a single condition. Amazon must comply with two letters of agreement that Globalstar entities signed in 1999 and 2004 with the Defense Department, the Justice Department and the FBI. The order calls the first of those agencies the Department of War, the name the current administration uses. The applicants asked for this condition themselves in a July 2026 supplement.

There was no Team Telecom referral. The FCC refers applications to the Executive Branch for national security review when there is reportable foreign ownership, and the applicants stated that Amazon is 100% US-owned. The bureaus sent a courtesy copy to the review committee on 9 June 2026 and went no further.

That is worth noting for anyone structuring a satellite acquisition. A US buyer with no reportable foreign ownership can keep national security review to existing commitments. A buyer with foreign investors would face a longer path.

The objections that failed

Two filings opposed the deal. Neither got far.

Yippy, Inc., a former Globalstar customer in an ongoing arbitration with the company, asked the FCC to dismiss the application or condition it to protect its claimed contract rights. The bureaus denied the petition, saying a transfer of control proceeding “is not the proper forum for resolving private contract disputes”, and citing the D.C. Circuit’s description of the FCC’s long-standing refusal to decide contract questions that a court can hear. They also found that no rule required the applicants to disclose the dispute.

A late filing by an individual, Dana Scioli, argued that the FCC lacked jurisdiction, pointing to foreign investment review and the National Environmental Policy Act. The order calls those claims “without merit”, says the application raised no foreign ownership issue, and notes that the filer had shown no interest in the transaction.

The lesson for counterparties is plain. If you have a commercial grievance against a licensee being sold, the FCC docket is a poor place to press it. Your contract and your arbitrator are where the real pressure lies.

Why direct-to-device was the deciding factor

Read as a whole, the order is a D2D decision. Amazon has a pending application for its own global D2D system, accepted for filing in August 2026, but the order notes that Amazon “would not have access to MSS spectrum needed to operate that system absent this transaction”.

That matters because of an earlier Space Bureau ruling. In its April 2026 MSS Clarification Order (DA 26-398), cited in the Globalstar order, the bureau reaffirmed that existing MSS licensees hold exclusive rights to use their bands for D2D. If you want satellite-to-phone service in the MSS bands, you buy or partner with an incumbent. SpaceX did that with EchoStar spectrum in May 2026, and Amazon has now done it with Globalstar. Our explainer on the FCC’s direct-to-device rules covers the wider rewrite now under way.

Apple is the other piece. The order records that Apple accounted for about 63% of Globalstar’s 2025 revenue and owns a 20% equity stake that Amazon says it will acquire. Reuters reports that Amazon has agreed with Apple to keep the iPhone emergency and Find My services running.

What still has to happen before closing

This is the part most reports missed. Globalstar’s quarterly report filed on 5 November 2026 sets out where things stand:

The waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act expired on 17 July 2026. All required antitrust and foreign investment approvals under current law have been obtained, though Globalstar warns that new foreign investment laws could add more before closing. Shareholder approval was given by written consent.

Amazon’s obligation to close is still subject to Globalstar receiving authorisations from the FCC and “the relevant French authorities” for the C-3 System. Globalstar says it has applied to the French government to launch and operate C-3, which rests on a French filing with the ITU. The FCC part is done. The French part is not, as far as the filing shows.

French law is strict on control. Article 3 of the French Space Operations Act of 2008 requires prior authorisation for any transfer to a third party of control of a space object authorised under that Act. Whether a change in Globalstar’s ultimate owner counts as such a transfer for the French-licensed satellites is for the French authorities; the filing does not say, and I would not assume it does not.

Globalstar expects the mergers to close in 2027. Either side can terminate if the deal has not closed by 13 April 2027, a date that can be extended to 13 October 2027 and then 13 April 2028 if regulatory or satellite milestone conditions are still open. Amazon would owe a termination fee of about $592.1 million in some cases, including where required regulatory approvals are not obtained. Globalstar would owe about $419.8 million in others.

For background on how the ITU filing system ties a satellite network to one administration, and on what happens to licences when a satellite operator changes hands or fails, see our earlier pieces.

Can anyone still challenge the order?

Yes, briefly. The order took effect on adoption. Under 47 CFR 1.106, petitions for reconsideration may be filed within 30 days of adoption, which by my count runs to 26 November 2026. Because the bureaus acted under delegated authority, an aggrieved party can also ask the full Commission to review the decision under 47 CFR 1.115, within 30 days of public notice of the action. Given the thin opposition record, I would be surprised if either route changed the result.

What I would watch

The first is France. A decision on C-3 authorisation, and on any transfer of control of French-licensed satellites, is now the critical item on the closing list. Watch Globalstar’s next filings for news of it.

The second is Amazon’s own D2D application. With Globalstar’s spectrum in reach, the Space Bureau will have to decide how Amazon’s planned D2D satellites fit with Globalstar’s existing system and the MSS exclusivity it has just reaffirmed.

The third is the FCC’s wider D2D rulemaking. Performance requirements and any codified MSS exclusivity will set the terms on which Amazon, SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile compete for phone users. As our guide to how Starlink is licensed shows, the spectrum rules usually decide more than the satellites do.

The fourth is any petition filed before 26 November. Silence would make the order final at the FCC.