PARIS, France (AFP) — Amazon said Tuesday that it had signed a deal to buy the United States (US) telecoms satellite group Globalstar to expand its own space-based internet network and compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Amazon said it would make a cash-and-stock offer worth US$90 to shareholders in Globalstar, which has a market value of around US$9 billion, according to a Financial Times report this month flagging the deal.

The tech and e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos is building its Amazon Leo network, offering satellite-based internet connectivity to people practically anywhere on the planet.

“There are billions of customers out there living, travelling and operating in places beyond the reach of existing networks, and we started Amazon Leo to help bridge that divide,” Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president for devices and services, said in a statement.

Around 58 per cent of Globalstar’s shareholders have already accepted the deal, expected to close in 2027.

As part of the deal, Apple, which owns a 20 per cent stake in Globalstar, will start using Leo for satellite services with iPhones and Apple Watches, such as its Emergency SOS contact service.

Leo, with around 200 satellites in orbit, is aiming to challenge Musk’s SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service of 10,000 satellites.

The Globalstar deal comes as market speculation is rife that Musk is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX shares that could raise a whopping US$75 billion, which would be the largest IPO ever.