Starlink Direct-to-Cell Service To Compete with Standard Smartphones by 2027
Gwynne Shotwell said next-generation satellites and new ground infrastructure could let Starlink offer broadband directly to phones and compete with major carriers.
- SpaceX is preparing to expand Starlink into the United States mobile market, potentially challenging Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. The shift could reshape the wireless industry as the company moves beyond serving remote coverage gaps.
- Thanks to its nearly $20 billion deal to acquire 65 MHz of wireless spectrum from EchoStar late last year, SpaceX plans to develop terrestrial infrastructure alongside satellites. This allows the company to move beyond satellite-only connectivity.
- During the inaugural earnings call last week, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell reported the satellite division netted $1.6 billion in profit. The company targets a portion of the $600 billion in annual revenue currently controlled by Big Telecom.
- Oppenheimer analysts project Starlink Mobile could capture at least 15 million customers by 2030, though New Street Research analyst David Barden told Reuters it makes no sense for SpaceX to replicate terrestrial networks with only 65 MHz.
- SpaceX plans to have its terrestrial mobile service live by the end of next year. CEO Elon Musk said during last week's earnings call that Starlink Mobile will "probably" provide "better and higher bandwidth than what is currently available from cellular providers.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Starlink’s Success Casts Doubt on Telecom Companies’ Future
SpaceX has a message to Verizon and the rest of Big Telecom: Can you hear me now? While the inaugural SpaceX earnings call last week unsurprisingly revealed that the company has lost $2 billion through the first half of the year, it also showed that Starlink continues to be a serious money-maker. The satellite communications division netted $1.6 billion in profit in the second quarter, and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the unit’s next go…
Starlink Direct-to-Cell Service To Compete with Standard Smartphones by 2027
Starlink Mobile represents SpaceX’s ambitious push into the cellular market by offering direct satellite connections to ordinary smartphones. The service builds upon the company’s existing Direct-to-Cell technology, which already operates in a limited capacity through collaborations such as T-Mobile’s T-Satellite offering. Rather than simply extending broadband coverage, this initiative targets a full consumer mobile experience that could challe…
Starlink targets US mobile market, challenging AT&T and Verizon
SpaceX is preparing to take Starlink beyond its role as a satellite connectivity provider and expand into the U.S. mobile market, potentially putting Elon Musk’s company in direct competition with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The move would represent a significant expansion of Starlink’s business. Rather than relying primarily on partnerships with existing wireless operators, SpaceX is planning a mobile service that could eventually offer consume…
Elon Musk’s Starlink company stopped talking like a satellite provider that helps phone companies cover their dead areas and started talking like what could become in the next few years, a direct competitor of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. According to Statista, the American wireless industry represents a market of about $600 billion, a dimension that helps explain the appeal of Starlink Mobile’s offensive. The Verge reported that Gwynne Shotwell,…
Starlink on the cell phone ceased to be only a technological promise. SpaceX already connects conventional phones directly with its satellites in different countries and, during 2026, accelerated its plans to turn that technology into an alternative increasingly similar to a traditional mobile network. The novelty generates special interest in Argentina for a specific reason: it would allow for signaling on routes, fields, mountain areas, rural …
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