SpaceX will launch next-gen Starlink Mobile satellites in 2027 and expects to win customers from the Big Three carriers, President Gwynne Shotwell said.
SpaceX said it will launch the next generation of Starlink Mobile satellites in 2027 and set out to pull customers from the three biggest U.S. wireless carriers.
On the company's first earnings call since its June IPO, President Gwynne Shotwell said the upgraded service, due by the end of 2027, would use 65 megahertz of spectrum that SpaceX agreed to buy from EchoStar. She described the result as "100 times better" than the current Starlink Mobile offering.
"I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers because I think our service will be better," Shotwell said, naming AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile as the targets.
Starlink Mobile today operates mostly as a satellite fallback for phone carriers. The satellites act like cell towers in space, connecting handsets where ground service is unavailable, including remote and emergency areas. In the U.S., T-Mobile partners with SpaceX on a satellite-to-cellular service branded T-Satellite, which is not a full substitute for a standard 4G or 5G plan.
A T-Mobile spokesperson pointed to comments from CEO Srini Gopalan on the company's July earnings call. Gopalan said satellite-to-cell service is complementary to traditional networks, accounting for 0.0003% of T-Mobile's network usage during the busiest summer months.
SpaceX also plans to build a terrestrial network alongside the satellites. Shotwell said the company could deploy smaller, lower-cost cellular base stations paired with Starlink dishes. Musk said the resulting network would deliver better connectivity and higher bandwidth "than what is currently available from cellular providers."
"Instead of having to deploy these very expensive and difficult-to-locate, large cellular base stations, we feel reasonably confident that we can deploy a large number of small stations," Musk said.
The Federal Communications Commission approved the EchoStar spectrum transfer in May, clearing SpaceX to use the airwaves for satellite, terrestrial, or hybrid applications. Shotwell declined to disclose the project's capital costs.
For EchoStar, the deal transfers a key licensed asset to a rival that plans to use it against the biggest names in U.S. wireless. The company's SATS stock page carries an Alpha Score of 49 out of 100, a Mixed rating in the Communication Services sector.
Spokespeople for Verizon and AT&T did not respond to requests for comment.
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