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As it currently stands, only one entity has asked the FCC to block the pending Amazon-Globalstar deal or impose conditions. On Wednesday, Amazon and Globalstar told the FCC that this one entity, a company called Yippy, is basically full of it.

This back-and-forth comes more than three months after Amazon struck a $11.5 billion deal to acquire Globalstar, a move that aims to jump-start Amazon Leo's move into the direct-to-device (D2D) sector and complement its plans to launch its own D2D system sometime in 2028.

As reported last month, Yippy, a company that claims to be partially owned by Globalstar, filed a petition to dismiss the deal, or have the FCC impose conditions that ensure its purported contractual rights with Globalstar are upheld after the deal is consummated.

Yippy noted in the filing that its partnership with Globalstar goes back to 2015, when Globalstar signed on to use Yippy's platform and proprietary data compression tech to help with data transfers. Yippy's petition failed to mention that Yippy sued Globalstar in a New York court earlier this year on breach-of-contract grounds. The judge dismissed the case in March without prejudice, meaning Yippy is free to refile in a court with jurisdiction, though it has not said whether it will.

Related:Amazon nets Globalstar for $11.5B, signs new Apple pact

Yippy also said in the petition that Globalstar currently holds an 18.75% stake in Yippy. Light Reading has asked Globalstar to confirm if that stake is still active.

In their July 21 response to Yippy's claims, Globalstar and Amazon urged the FCC to deny Yippy's effort to dismiss or otherwise delay the deal. They added that Globalstar has not provided any communications services to Yippy for several years, and argue that Yippy is trying to use the merger review process as leverage for a "wholly unrelated commercial dispute with Globalstar."

"The lone objection comes from a company that has not offered any communications services through Globalstar since 2021 and seeks to leverage the Commission's transfer of control process to extract concessions in a private contract dispute that a federal court has already dismissed," they explained. "Yippy's petition rests on speculation that, post-merger, Amazon will not respect existing contractual rights that Yippy asserts it has with Globalstar and that this stance will somehow affect 'potential competition' between Amazon and Yippy."

It's not fully clear if Globalstar's partnership with Parsons to provide communications for the public, government and defense sectors via Globalstar's LEO constellation has any direct bearing on the Globalstar-Yippy relationship. The Globalstar-Parsons deal was signed in 2024, about three years after Globalstar said it stopped providing communications services to Yippy.

Related:Amazon-Globalstar deal draws concern and support

The Globalstar-Amazon docket has been fairly quiet. Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America filed their support of the deal on July 7.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) put forth its support in this July 21 filing, holding that the deal will strengthen competition in the D2D satellite sector and further extend communications coverage to remote and underserved areas.

Reply comments are due July 31.