Wireless Carriers Not Worried About Competition from SpaceX

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2026 – The major mobile carriers aren’t worried about head-to-head competition from SpaceX’s direct-to-cell service, executives said this week.

The satellite company talked up its ambitions for that service, now called Starlink Mobile, at Mobile World Congress earlier this week. SpaceX is ultimately targeting “hundreds of millions” of customers worldwide and aims to provide much faster 150 megabits per second speeds with its next-generation constellation, about 1,200 of which the company aims to launch in 2027.

Executives said the service currently has 10 million active global users served by 650 satellites, which provide service in the U.S. through a partnership with T-Mobile on the carrier’s spectrum. SpaceX is buying airwaves from EchoStar with which it aims to power the next-generation service.