--- title: Amazon Leo wins FCC approval to buy iPhone satellite... description: The FCC approved Amazon Leo's $11.5bn purchase of Globalstar, the company behind Apple's iPhone Emergency SOS and Find My satellite features. The approval... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-leo-wins-fcc-approval-to-buy-iphone-satellite-partner-globalstar-i7dtv0w26 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Amazon Leo wins FCC approval to buy iPhone satellite partner Globalstar | daily.dev og:description: The FCC approved Amazon Leo's $11.5bn purchase of Globalstar, the company behind Apple's iPhone Emergency SOS and Find My satellite features. The approval... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-leo-wins-fcc-approval-to-buy-iphone-satellite-partner-globalstar-i7dtv0w26 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/i7dTV0W26.png og:image:alt: Amazon Leo wins FCC approval to buy iPhone satellite partner Globalstar og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Amazon Leo wins FCC approval to buy iPhone satellite partner Globalstar **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The FCC approved Amazon Leo's $11.5bn purchase of Globalstar, the company behind Apple's iPhone Emergency SOS and Find My satellite features. The approval transfers about 25 megahertz of Globalstar's mobile-satellite spectrum to Amazon Leo. Amazon has agreed to keep providing satellite services to Apple and plans to buy Apple's 20% stake in Globalstar. Amazon Leo has launched nearly 400 satellites since April 2025 and plans to start commercial service by the end of 2026, while SpaceX's Starlink has more than 11,000 satellites. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Will Apple's iPhone satellite Emergency SOS feature still work after Amazon buys Globalstar? Yes, Amazon has signed an agreement with Apple to keep providing Globalstar's satellite services, which power Emergency SOS and Find My on iPhone and Apple Watch. Amazon also plans to buy Apple's 20% stake in Globalstar, a stake Apple acquired for about $1.5bn in 2024. Apple accounted for roughly 63% of Globalstar's revenue last year. _Developers tracking platform-level connectivity changes can follow the Apple-Globalstar-Amazon deal on daily.dev._ ### How much spectrum is Amazon Leo getting from the Globalstar acquisition? The FCC approved the transfer of about 25 megahertz of Globalstar's mobile-satellite spectrum to Amazon Leo as part of the $11.5bn deal. The spectrum is central to Amazon's direct-to-device plans, letting phones connect directly to satellites without a mobile mast, adding capacity and coverage in areas ground networks don't reach. _Anyone weighing satellite versus terrestrial connectivity options can keep up with spectrum deals like this on daily.dev._ ### How does Amazon Leo's satellite count compare to SpaceX Starlink? Amazon Leo has launched nearly 400 satellites since April 2025 and plans thousands in low Earth orbit by 2029, with commercial service targeted by the end of 2026. SpaceX's Starlink already has more than 11,000 satellites in orbit, making Amazon Leo a distant challenger in the direct-to-device and broadband satellite race. _Those comparing satellite broadband providers can track the Amazon Leo versus Starlink race on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Amazon in talks to buy satellite operator Globalstar](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-in-talks-to-buy-satellite-operator-globalstar-m2ij2zka7) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Amazon Leo has enough satellites to take on Starlink](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-leo-has-enough-satellites-to-take-on-starlink-ugijgewug) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [FCC gives Amazon Leo more time on satellite deployment but strips its spectrum priority](https://daily.dev/posts/fcc-gives-amazon-leo-more-time-on-satellite-deployment-but-strips-its-spectrum-priority-at7exswko) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple), [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-leo-wins-fcc-approval-to-buy-iphone-satellite-partner-globalstar-i7dtv0w26) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Amazon Leo wins FCC approval to buy iPhone satellite partner Globalstar","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-leo-wins-fcc-approval-to-buy-iphone-satellite-partner-globalstar-i7dtv0w26","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-leo-wins-fcc-approval-to-buy-iphone-satellite-partner-globalstar-i7dtv0w26"},"datePublished":"2026-10-28T19:52:26.957Z","dateModified":"2026-10-28T21:35:36.757Z","description":"The FCC approved Amazon Leo's $11.5bn purchase of Globalstar, the company behind Apple's iPhone Emergency SOS and Find My satellite features. 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