SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says Starlink could become a mobile carrier after his company reached a $17 billion deal to buy radio spectrum from BoostMobile’s parent company, EchoStar.
On Tuesday night, Musk appeared on the All-in Podcast, where he was asked if Starlink would one day supply satellite-based cellular access worldwide and become an alternative to traditional carriers such as AT&T.
“Is that the end goal? Basically, that we don’t need a regional carrier? We have a global carrier, and that would be you?” asked venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.
“That would be one of the options,” Musk responded.
What SpaceX Could Unleash, and What It Won’t
The statement is raising eyebrows since SpaceX is currently partnering with T-Mobile to offer cellular Starlink in the US as a paid add-on service. Cellular Starlink also relies on T-Mobile’s 1.91 to 1.995GHz radio bands to provide satellite-powered text messaging and, more recently, data to mobile apps.
But with the EchoStar deal, SpaceX will own several 1.9GHz and 2GHz bands in the US, which promises to unleash even more capabilities for the cellular Starlink service. SpaceX has even boasted about offering a “comparable experience to current terrestrial LTE service” by harnessing the new spectrum.
Still, Musk tempered expectations: He didn’t elaborate on what other options are on the table but noted that existing cellphone networks will remain competitive. He laughed at the idea of buying Verizon, saying it’s “not out of the question. I suppose that may happen.” (He tangled with that carrier earlier this year over an FAA contract when he was still overseeing DOGE.)
“To be clear, we’re not going to put the other carriers out of business. They’re still going to be around because they own a lot of spectrum,” he said. “But yes, you should be able to have Starlink like you have an AT&T, or T-Mobile, or Verizon, or whatever.”
(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)
One Starlink account could offer access to space-based cellular service and residential Starlink broadband, which requires a dish. “Yeah, it would be a comprehensive solution for high bandwidth at home and for high bandwidth direct-to-cell,” Musk said.
During the talk, Musk dodged a question about creating a Starlink phone. “This is a long-term thing. It will allow SpaceX to deliver high-bandwidth connectivity directly from the satellites to the phones,” he responded.
“But there are hardware changes that need to happen in the phones. So, since these frequencies are not supported in current phones, the chipset has to be modified to add these frequencies. And that is probably a two-year timeframe,” he also noted.
The More Practical Path for SpaceX
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In addition, SpaceX needs to send up next-generation cellular Starlink satellites designed to harness the acquired EchoStar spectrum. “So in parallel, we’re building the satellites and working with the handset makers to add these frequencies to the phones,” Musk said.
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This will enable users to watch videos and receive cellular access even inside homes — as long as the building doesn’t have a “thick metal roof,” he added.
Although some Elon Musk fans have long called for a Starlink phone, satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar said a more realistic alternative for SpaceX is to work with existing players.
“I expect Starlink would prefer to partner with phone manufacturers like Apple and potentially offer service on a wholesale basis to mobile operators around the world, just like when you roam to another country,” Farrar tells PCMag. “If they had to build their own phone, it would probably take at least two years to create the hardware, and developing an ecosystem around it (e.g., an Appstore) could take much longer unless they adopted an existing solution like Android.”
Lluc Palerm Serra, research director at consultancy Analysys Mason, is also skeptical about Starlink one day becoming a challenger to traditional cell networks. “Even with this [EchoStar] deal, the amount of spectrum, the link budget, etc. wouldn’t allow Starlink to offer a competitive service from space in highly dense areas in cities, in buildings,” he said, noting that “total data volume would need to be capped and wouldn’t be comparable to terrestrial networks.
“The most plausible business model is that Starlink partners with MNOs [mobile network operators] for them to resell the service or embed the service as part of their plans,” he added. In other words, Starlink will likely try to dominate the phone-to-satellite market, becoming the major provider, and pushing out rivals such as AST SpaceMobile and Apple partner Globalstar.
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“Would SpaceX become a fourth terrestrial player? I don’t think that [the] spectrum is enough, and it doesn’t seem to be the focus for SpaceX at the moment. Dish [BoostMobile] just failed to become the fourth player, so not sure how eager SpaceX is to enter that market,” he added.
Why AT&T Is Not Worried
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Earlier on Tuesday, AT&T CEO John Stankey offered his own thoughts on the SpaceX-EchoStar deal and whether Starlink might threaten traditional cell carriers.
“Does 40MHz of spectrum [that SpaceX is acquiring] allow for a robust terrestrial replacement?” he asked while speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. “As we sit here today, the answer to that is no. Over time, could that happen? Could somebody make a commitment to do something different? Sure, it could happen.”
Still, Stankey suggested SpaceX faces a tough road ahead, alluding to EchoStar’s struggles to build a fourth cellular network through Dish’s BoostMobile, before selling its spectrum to both SpaceX and AT&T in separate deals. “There’s a lot more to building a wireless network than putting up 50,000 cell sites,” he said.
Starlink’s cellular ambitions could excel outdoors in rural and remote areas, putting pressure on a portion of AT&T’s own business, he added. But Stankey doesn’t view SpaceX as a serious threat to AT&T’s main business of serving consumers and businesses on its heavily trafficked cell network and fiber installations, which can harness more spectrum and offer low latency.
“I think there’s some speculation on whether [satellite] technology can move fast enough and long enough to keep pace with what will occur on the terrestrial networks over time,” he said.
AT&T has partnered with Texas-based startup AST SpaceMobile to offer an alternative to SpaceX’s cellular Starlink service. But there have been questions about whether AST can launch enough satellites to compete with SpaceX by the end of 2026. During his talk, Stankey referred to AST as “one of our partnerships,” a comment that’s also raising eyebrows.
About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
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