FCC grants Amazon Leo dedicated phone-reaching spectrum
From the Space digest for Oct 28, 2026
What happened: Reported just after midnight ET on October 28, the FCC approved Amazon Leo's use of Globalstar's dedicated L-band and S-band mobile-satellite spectrum — frequencies that let the constellation beam calls and data straight to ordinary, unmodified phones rather than only to Leo's own dishes (as reported by MSN). Trade coverage adds that the FCC's decision itself was issued Tuesday, October 27, and was framed explicitly as advancing Amazon's direct-to-device capabilities (SatNews). Further reporting the same morning confirmed the clearance covers the deal itself: the FCC approved Amazon's $11.5 billion acquisition of Globalstar, the satellite operator behind the iPhone's emergency SOS feature (MSN), with SpaceX France putting the smartphone-serving fleet at up to 5,105 satellites. The approval lands while the constellation built to challenge Starlink is still deploying satellites and has not yet started consumer service.
What's genuinely new: Full acquisition clearance for the Globalstar takeover, with the $11.5 billion price tag attached. The constellation's public story to date has been fixed broadband — Pro-dish speed tests, Ariane 6 deployments, a 2026 service-launch target — and this adds a carrier-free phone-link capability on its own licensed frequencies. It follows an earlier FCC action, reported October 16, that let the fleet keep flying despite missing its July deployment deadline while trimming its spectrum priority.
Watch: What Amazon does with Globalstar's existing consumer business, including the iPhone emergency-SOS service; whether the Globalstar-spectrum capability reaches consumers alongside the fixed service; and how Leo's deployment make-up schedule — still short of its contractual count — squares with a direct-to-phone rollout.
Sources SatNews MSN MSN SpaceX France