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The deal resets SpaceX’s direct-to-cell (DTC) 5G ambitions, reshapes the DTC competitive landscape, impacts downstream competitor vendors, and could redefine the relationship between mobile carriers and satellite providers.
Image: Isar Aerospace
This year’s get-rich-quick stock? Not Rocket Lab, not AST SpaceMobile, not Planet.
It’s GEO stalwart Viasat.
This report breaks down the frontrunners—Axiom, Vast, Voyager, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Sierra Space—and digs into costs, economics, funding, political priorities, and recent shifts in CLD Phase 2 requirements.
Over 90% of Falcon 9 launches use flight-proven hardware, driving marginal launch costs below $15M.
There’s threading the needle, and then there is what Firefly just did last week.
COTS is credited with playing a pivotal role in SpaceX’s rise, helping fund the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
Starlink may be the clear leader today, but the market is underpricing the threat of Kuiper. If history is any guide, Amazon tends to enter markets late, absorb the upfront losses, weaponize its balance sheet, and win through scale, patience, and integration.
Amazon is now generating more free cash flow in a single quarter than the total capital SpaceX raised during the past 30 funding rounds.
