The roughly $8 billion acquisition of a satellite operator carries a reading the announcement doesn't highlight: consolidation reduces the number of independent suppliers in a market that spent the year learning the value of a second source.
The contradiction runs through the sector. The same companies qualifying alternative component suppliers and contracting more than one cloud provider operate in a market that concentrates with every acquisition.
In connectivity, that has a direct effect on anyone running distributed systems. Fewer independent operators means fewer real alternatives when price rises or service fails in a region.
The same pattern appeared at other layers in the period: manufacturers buying inference technology companies, model providers buying development tools, and AI companies buying equity in the manufacturers of their accelerators.
For buyers, the defence is the familiar one and has to be exercised in advance: keep a qualified, tested alternative even if it costs a little more day to day.