Verizon CEO Still Sees Satellite as Compliment to Terrestrial

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2026 – Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said Wednesday he’s still not worried about direct competition from satellite operators.

“I think satellite service is a really good complementary service for our product. But they cannot compete in urban and suburban [areas] against a terrestrial network,” he said. “And by the way, that’s where like 95 percent plus of the revenues are.”

Speaking at a MoffettNathanson conference in New York, he said it was much easier to put up a cell site to increase local capacity when networks are congested. But low-Earth orbit satellites circle the planet many times per day, and it makes less sense to launch many new satellites that will cover everywhere but only be needed in small areas.