“Big Tech” profiles udpated for 2026

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, for example, has gained authorisation from US regulator the FCC to add thousands of satellites to its existing constellation. By April 2026, the company had launched 300 satellites.

That same month, Amazon agreed to buy Globalstar for $11.57 billion, acquiring its 24-satellite low-Earth orbitNGSO, or non-geostationary satellite orbit… (LEO) constellation, 28 ground stations across six continents, and licences for mobile satellite service and terrestrial spectrum. Amazon plans to start offering satellite direct-to-device (D2D) services in 2028.

Microsoft has teamed up with Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, as part of its digital inclusion programme. Microsoft had previously committed to helping bring internet access to 250 million people globally (a target it says it has now exceeded). Starlink is becoming one of the technologies it uses to reach communities where terrestrial broadband is impractical.

Google has investments in AST SpaceMobile and Amazon Leo, and its Pixel smartphones have included support for SOS via D2D since August 2024. Google’s partner for this is Skylo.

However, this does not mean that the Big Tech firms have lost their well-established focus on unlicensed spectrum. In 2026, for example, Google is ramping up its autonomous vehicle and drone delivery businesses, with both reliant on the use of unlicensed spectrum. Meta, meanwhile, is transitioning its virtual reality-based metaverse platform to a mobile-centric platform.

And as discussions continue on the future of the 6 GHz band, all four Big Tech firms are clear that they do not want the upper part of the band allocated to IMTInternational Mobile Telecommunications (I….

The 2026 Big Tech profiles are now available to Spectrum Research Service subscribers.

• Big Tech Overview
• Amazon
• Google
• Meta
• Microsoft