Amazon is aiming to build-up its satellite business to offer internet and mobile phone services by spending $11.57bn (£8.5bn) on an acquisition of Globalstar.
The deal, announced Tuesday, will allow Amazon to get thousands of satellites into low-earth orbit through the Amazon Leo project the company has been working on for several years.
Amazon said the Globalstar takeover fits its “long-term vision for space-based connectivity” and that it will deploy a “next generation” satellite system in 2028.
By doing so, Amazon will be in closer competition with Starlink, an increasingly popular satellite-based internet and phone service company launched by Elon Musk in 2019.
Starlink has a significant head-start on Amazon’s Leo, which currently only has around 200 satellites in orbit. Musk’s company, which is private, says it already has more than 10,000 active satellites offering internet and mobile phone service to more than 10 million paying customers. (BBC)
