Spectrum deal flow · 2024 to Q1 2026
$28 billion of bilateral direct-to-device deal flow.
Window
Q4 2024 – Q1 2026
Aggregate bilateral volume
$28B
Cleared volume
$0
Source
Public reporting, footnoted below
At a glance
The four numbers that anchor the deal-flow thesis.
Aggregate bilateral · 18mo
$0B
Direct-to-device spectrum transactions in public reporting, ending Q1 2026.
Cleared portion · today
$0
None of the bilateral volume is cleared. There is no neutral price discovery, no netting, no standardised contract.
Long-tail multiple
≥ 1×
Industry analyst consensus is that the long tail of operator-to-operator coordination beneath the headlines is at least the size of the visible deals. The visible figure is the floor.
FCC private-bargaining default
Apr 30 2026
The EPFD modernisation Order makes voluntary private agreement the default coordination model for NGSO/GSO interference.
Representative deals · 2024 to Q1 2026
The headline transactions, named and dated.
Representative direct-to-device spectrum transactions
- AST SpaceMobile · Verizon
- DTC capacity · multi-year
Strategic agreement for direct-to-device coverage using AST's BlueWalker constellation across Verizon's licensed spectrum.
- SpaceX · T-Mobile
- DTC capacity · multi-year
Strategic partnership using Starlink direct-to-cell capability across T-Mobile's PCS spectrum.
- Globalstar · Apple
- DTC capacity · ongoing
Globalstar's L-band spectrum supports Apple's emergency satellite messaging and adjacent direct-to-device use cases.
- Amazon · Globalstar
- Acquisition talks (reported)
Bloomberg reporting (Ed Ludlow) frames the strategic interest as fundamentally about Globalstar's globally harmonised licensed spectrum, not the satellites themselves.
- Long tail
- Bilateral, opaque
Operator-to-operator coordination, government and civil reservations, secondary lease arrangements. Substantially larger than the visible headline transactions.
Deal taxonomy
What is being traded, and how the contract architecture maps to it.
- 01
DTC capacity arrangements
Multi-year exclusive or non-exclusive agreements between a constellation operator and a terrestrial mobile operator, granting access to the terrestrial operator's licensed spectrum for direct-to-device satellite service. Wavestar maps these to standardised DTC-capacity contracts with explicit MHz-hour units. - 02
Spectrum acquisitions and equity coupling
Cases where strategic interest in a spectrum holder is fundamentally about the licensed spectrum rather than the operating business — most prominently the reported Amazon/Globalstar discussions. Wavestar does not clear M&A, but the underlying spectrum allocation enters the registry as soon as the transaction closes. - 03
Operator-to-operator coordination
NGSO/GSO bilateral negotiation of interference protections, frequency coordination, and operational handshakes. The April 30 2026 EPFD modernisation made this the regulatory default. Wavestar's cleared spectrum-hour leases are the post-trade infrastructure for this layer. - 04
Government and civil reservations
Bilateral spectrum arrangements between commercial operators and government or civil agencies — coverage for disaster response, military backhaul, broadcasting reservations. Cleared via the same SPEC contract template with appropriate counterparty screening.
The long tail
What sits below the visible headlines.
Industry analysts and regulator filings consistently observe that the visible headline DTC transactions are the upper edge of a much larger pool of bilateral coordination. NGSO operators coordinate frequency and orbital separation bilaterally on a continuous basis. GSO incumbents negotiate interference protection bilaterally with new entrants. Government and civil agencies negotiate reservations outside the public eye.
None of this is cleared. None of it produces a neutral reference price. None of it produces standardised contract language. The volume is real; the post-trade infrastructure is missing. That is the gap Wavestar fills — not by inventing the market, but by giving the existing market clearing, netting, and audit primitives.
The April 30 2026 EPFD modernisation made the regulatory framing explicit. Private bargaining is now the default coordination model. The clearing layer is what private bargaining at scale requires.
In the eighteen months leading up to this week, there's been more than $28 billion in deal flow across at least 130 megahertz of spectrum intended for direct-to-device services.
Sources
The footnote layer — every claim citable.
Source register
- Aggregate $28B figure · 18mo
- Patton Boggs newsletter, May 2026
Industry tracking of direct-to-device spectrum deal flow, ending Q1 2026. Reconciled against reported headline transactions and analyst commentary.
- FCC EPFD Order · April 30 2026
- FCC public docket
Public Order text and accompanying NPRM materials. Wavestar's regulatory page reconciles the docket entries nightly. See /regulatory/fcc-ibfs.
- Amazon/Globalstar reporting
- Bloomberg · Ed Ludlow
Reported strategic interest framed as fundamentally about Globalstar's globally harmonised licensed spectrum.
- AST · Verizon and SpaceX · T-Mobile
- Public corporate disclosure
Strategic-partnership announcements and subsequent regulatory filings.
- Globalstar · Apple
- Public corporate disclosure
Apple emergency-satellite-messaging launch materials and Globalstar 10-K disclosures.
The cleared market
The bilateral volume is real. The cleared market opens at M4.
Spectrum-Hours is one of the two live-signal markets on Wavestar. The cleared lease book opens with the design-partner cohort at M4; long-term transfers activate after SEC ATS-N goes operative. Read the market page for contract specifications and counterparty mechanics.