SpaceX Looking to Use AWS-3 for Direct-to-Cell

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2025 – SpaceX is aiming to use terrestrial spectrum from EchoStar for its direct-to-cell satellite service, the company told regulators Wednesday.

The company reached a deal to buy unpaired AWS-3 licenses from EchoStar earlier this month for $2.6 billion in stock, in addition to EchoStar’s 2 GigaHertz (GHz)/AWS-4 and H-block licenses it agreed to purchase previously for $17 billion.

The AWS-3 airwaves, originally the Advanced Wireless Service, are currently only allocated for terrestrial use, but the satellite operator told the Federal Communications Commission it’s hoping to use them for its planned next-generation direct-to-cell service.

“SpaceX is preparing an amendment that adds the AWS-3 spectrum to its pending application for authority to use the AWS-4/2 GHz and AWS-H Block spectrum to deploy a next-generation satellite constellation that provides increased capacity, reduced latency, and broader service coverage for mobile users across the United States,” the company wrote in a filing.

AWS-3 isn’t among the airwaves called out in the FCC’s supplemental coverage from space order, which last year set up a process for allowing satellite connectivity in terrestrial spectrum bands. But SpaceX noted the agency said at the time it would “consider on a case-by-case basis… proposals to operate in bands not identified as eligible for SCS in the framework we adopt today.”

The company had previously told the FCC it’s planning a 15,000-satellite constellation to provide direct-to-cell service with all the new spectrum, something the agency would have to approve. SpaceX is aiming to offer something similar to 4G LTE service to users anywhere in the country with that constellation.

Existing direct-to-cell service through T-Mobile

SpaceX currently provides direct-to-cell service through a partnership with T-Mobile on the carrier’s airwaves. The satellite company said its new constellation would enable 20 times the throughput of that service.

SpaceX hoovering up billions in exclusive spectrum rights has led to some speculation about how directly the company wants to compete with the mobile carriers. 

The company did say in previous filings that it would be able to deploy “a hybrid satellite and terrestrial network,” and may end up “employing terrestrial base stations to enhance capacity where needed,” but it’s not buying EchoStar’s existing terrestrial network, which is set to be decommissioned as the company liquidates its spectrum assets.

Armand Musey, president of Summit Ridge Group, said at New America’s satellite policy event Thursday that SpaceX buying spectrum typically used for terrestrial mobile, even if the other bands are authorized for satellite direct-to-cell, was noteworthy.

“It sort of suggests that SpaceX really has some additional plans that perhaps we don’t know about, or maybe we can’t appreciate yet,” he said. “And it suggests there’s something else maybe around the corner.”

Frequency Forward, a watchdog initiative of communications law firm Smithwick and Belendiuk, has asked the FCC to hold a hearing on Elon Musk's China ties before clearing SpaceX's spectrum deals. New Street's Blair Levin has said direct Chinese investment in the company was unlikely to derail the deals.