The Pipes — Satellite Communications Services
Five publicly listed operators run the meaningful Western satellite networks. Amazon's $11.6B Globalstar acquisition just reset the spectrum floor.
The big public Western pure-plays are Iridium (L-band IoT, voice, government), Viasat (Ka-band broadband, IFC — covered in Choke 05), Globalstar (L/S-band IoT, Apple emergency messaging — being acquired by Amazon), AST SpaceMobile (S/L-band direct-to-cellphone — covered in Choke 10), and the private Eutelsat-OneWeb combine. Spectrum rights — granted by national regulators and the ITU — are the moat.
Amazon's $11.6 billion acquisition of Globalstar (announced April 14, 2026) re-rated spectrum-rich operators across the board. The Street has not fully digested this yet — Iridium's average analyst PT is still $32.40 vs current $45.74.
2 names on the watchlist
Only operator with truly global, pole-to-pole L-band coverage — the US government IoT network
Operates 66 cross-linked LEO satellites in L-band — voice, low-bandwidth data, IoT, aviation/maritime safety. Q1 2026 revenue $219M. Announced May 13, 2026: Iridium is purchasing the remaining 61% of Aireon (aviation surveillance JV) for $366.7M. The DoD EMSS Gateway contract — the dedicated US government Iridium gateway — remains in place.
Apple's emergency-messaging satellite partner — being acquired by Amazon for $11.6 billion
Operates a LEO constellation that powers Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite (66% of Q1 2026 revenue of $70.1M came from Apple wholesale capacity). On April 14, 2026, Amazon announced a definitive agreement to acquire Globalstar at $90/share cash or 0.3210 AMZN shares , valuing equity at ~$11.6B. Apple publicly endorsed the transaction. 58% of GSAT shareholders had already approved as of announcement.