If you think about satellites one of the companies that will come to mind is Starlink. There are many companies in the sphere but because Elon Musk owns Starlink, it is the one that comes up in the media and likely to your thoughts. Mr. Musk is a very good marketer of his brands. Another company that needs to be in this space is Amazon.

In an article from Reuters, Amazon is acquiring Globalstar Inc for $11.57 billion for its satellite business. If you think about the world of drones and ensuring internet access wherever you are or want to be, one of the methods is satellites. Amazon is experimenting with drones for its last mile deliveries, so it needs access to the internet or its own satellites.

Starlink has a 10,000 unit strong network, Amazon has 200 and Globalstar 2 dozen. However, Amazon has ambitions to have 3.200 satellites in Earth’s low orbit by 2029. It is preparing to roll out its satellite internet services later this year.

Globalstar’s satellite network is designed for reliable low-data connections directly to the mobile devices or Direct-to-Device (D2D). The advantage is no need for devices to connect to ground-based cellular towers. (there is a company which offers investors monthly dividends and owns cellular towers, if you own it there will be more competition).

Starlink serves 9 million users globally and is also developing D2D services through partnerships with T-Mobile.

Starlink’s parent is SpaceX and it is moving forward with an IPO, Starlink contributes between 50 and 80% of revenue generated by SpaceX.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, technology changes many things and it changes how the landscape of how companies make money. For a long time, cell phone companies used cell towers, at some point do the newer cell phones use cell towers or satellites. If they use satellite companies, it changes the revenue model for cell tower companies. In every industry there is competition, how the landscape changes is what you need to focus on as an investor.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.