Pending Satellite Deals and Spectrum Transfers
The satellite company deals and spectrum transfers announced and not yet closed, with each deal's value, status, next gate and expected close. Refreshed weekly for paid members.
Latest
What Ukraine's Starshield Speed Limit Tells Commercial Starlink Customers
Terminals used by Ukraine's forces lost their link above 100 mph, and who ordered it is still disputed. What that shows a business buyer about who sets a terminal's limits.
Deep Dive: Starcloud's Orbital Data Center Math Needs a $30 per Kilogram Launch
Starcloud's white paper puts a data center in space at one twentieth of the cost of one on the ground. Rerun with 2026 launch prices and spacecraft mass, the same arithmetic gives two to five times more.
Deep Dive: SpaceX's Carrier Playbook Meets Europe's 2 GHz Rules
SpaceX bought its way to US carrier status. In Europe, the 2 GHz MSS rules reserve two of three blocks for EU operators and freeze incumbents' rights during the bridge.
SpaceX's 800 MHz Deal Is a Tower Deal
SpaceX's Grain spectrum will run on towers and rooftops, not satellites. Why that makes American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA the deal's early winners.
The Delta and Starlink Fight Is About Who Holds the Passenger's Login
Musk says Delta wanted a portal. Delta says the portal was never the problem. Why the loyalty login, not the satellite, decides airline Wi-Fi awards.
Deep Dive: 0.0002 Percent of the Traffic, and One Company to Buy It
The carriers' new D2D venture is a single buyer with a spectrum pool. SpaceX holds its own spectrum and does not need it. AST SpaceMobile does.
Iridium Shareholders Said Yes to Rocket Lab. The Stock Is Still $5 Short of the Deal Price.
Iridium stockholders approved Rocket Lab's $54-a-share acquisition on September 24, 2026. What the collar does, why the FCC is the last gate, and why Iridium still trades about 10 percent below the deal price.
Starship Reached Orbit With 26 Starlink V3 Satellites. Here Is What They Cost Everyone Else.
SpaceX's Starship Flight 14 reached orbit with 26 Starlink V3 satellites on September 28, 2026. What ten times the capacity per satellite means for OneWeb, Amazon Leo, Telesat, SES and Viasat, and why the FCC's spectrum vote matters as much as the launch.
Amazon Ordered Six More Ariane 6 Launches Just as a Turbopump Problem Slowed the Rocket
Amazon Leo expanded its Arianespace order as a turbopump problem slowed Ariane 6, with Vulcan and New Glenn grounded. What it means for its FCC dates.
Why stc Group Bought a Satellite Instead of Leasing One
stc group bought a dedicated Astranis small GEO satellite rather than lease capacity. What ownership buys a national carrier, and what it has yet to prove.
Why is Airbus Building OneWeb Satellites in France Now?
Eutelsat ordered 229 more OneWeb satellites from Airbus, built in Toulouse. The Florida plant that built the first 600 went under review twelve days earlier.
Direct-to-Device
What Amazon Is Actually Buying at Globalstar
Globalstar books 63% of revenue from Apple and is being sold to Amazon for a sum its revenue cannot explain. The answer is in the spectrum and landing rights.
Sovereignty
IRIS² Finally Cut Checks, and the Biggest One Landed on the Ground
The first IRIS² industrial contracts are signed: OHB's €1B for 18 MEO platforms, HispaSat's €1.6B ground segment. Who gets paid, and what the order reveals.
LEO broadband
The 5TB Wall: What Starlink's Unlimited Plan Actually Buys You
Heavy Starlink users report speeds cut to about 10 Mbps around 5TB a month. The notice cites business use on a personal plan, not a data cap.
Sovereignty
Why Is Airbus Selling the Factory That Built OneWeb?
Airbus is reviewing a sale of its Merritt Island plant after moving 440 OneWeb satellites to Toulouse. Who buys a two-a-day line that lost its customer?
GEO Economics
The Ka-Band Role Reversal: SpaceX Moves to Reopen the ViaSat-3 F2 Grant
SpaceX petitions the FCC to deny ViaSat-3 F2 market access in NGSO-primary Ka-band, filed on day 30 of the recon window. The role reversal, explained.
GEO Economics
Somebody Just Ordered Three GEO Satellites. Nobody Will Say Who.
An undisclosed customer committed more than $600 million for three geostationary communications satellites on the former Maxar 1300 bus. The timing points at the FCC upper C-band clearing, and the anonymity is the most interesting part.
Direct-to-Device
Grain's Buyers Need a Rule Change, Not Just a Waiver
Bids for Grain Management's $6 billion 800 megahertz portfolio go to Grain, not the FCC, and close 5 November. The Commission will let AST SpaceMobile test in this band tomorrow, but has created no way for anyone to sell commercial service in it.
Starlink
Satellites Are the Cheap Part: Sizing SpaceX's Mobile Network
SpaceX's mobile network is not limited by spectrum or satellites. It needs about 40,000 cell sites, and that buys a mid-market carrier.
Direct-to-Device
What a Satellite-Connected Car Will Actually Do in 2029
A Viasat/5GAA survey says 75% of drivers will pay for satellite in the car. What they'll actually get in 2029 is an emergency message.
GEO Economics
Telesat Stopped Saying Refinance
Telesat's Q2 call changed the December vocabulary. A US$120 million loan at a non-guarantor subsidiary and what a consensual outcome means for creditors.
Sovereignty
IRIS² Got Bigger and 48 Percent More Expensive. Europe Signed Anyway. — Deep Dive
Rendezvous 1 repriced Europe's sovereign constellation. What the €15.6 billion agreement changes for SES, Eutelsat and buyers of sovereign capacity.
LEO broadband
Five Exits From a Band Nobody Flew
Eutelsat OneWeb surrendered its V-band grant in April 2025. Five operators have now left the FCC's first V-band processing round.