Elon Musk, in a Tweet on X, says he will “blast away the dead [cellular] zones,” helped by a launch on August 31st which added 26 Starlink satellites suitable for handling calls direct–to–cellular (DTC).

The latest batch takes the number of DTC satellites to 168, with another launch likely later this week. However, waiting in the wings is rival AST SpaceMobile, which will launch its first five DTC satellites around September 16th. SpaceX is handling the launch for AST.

Musk, in his Tweet, continued: “Starlink direct to mobile phone Internet is exclusively with T–Mobile in the US for the first year, then other carriers thereafter. We are starting off working with one carrier in each country, but ultimately hope to serve all carriers.”

The 168 satellites now in orbit are about half of the ideal number to cover the planet. Around 12 more launches will complete the initial task although Musk has plans for 800 or so DTC satellites for comprehensive coverage for the constellation.

T–Mobile acquired Sprint in 2018. T–Mobile is the third–largest cellular operator in the US. As of Q1 T–Mobile had some 99 million postpaid customers in the US, an increase of around six per cent compared to the previous quarter.

One staffer – Ben Longmire, senior director of satellite engineering – at SpaceX said it would connect every corner of the US, noting: “Imagine, streaming from the most remote mountain or desert, all thanks to 168 satellites now weaving a web of [coverage].”

However, SpaceX and Starlink have yet to receive FCC approvals to supply any sort of cellular transmission. The FCC problems for Starlink are considerable. Starlink has applied for a ‘waiver’ to allow transmissions to start, but it is up against a slew of objections from EchoStar, Verizon, AT&T and others all arguing that their own terrestrial cellular transmissions would be impacted by Starlink. Their argument is that SpaceX/Starlink doesn’t meet the requirements of the FCC for what the FCC terms as Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) which is designed to facilitate the integration of satellite and terrestrialnetworks. The FCC issued its rules on March 15th, saying the “new rules take steps toward a single network future that harnesses the power of satellites to fill wireless coverage gaps.”

EchoStar has its own ‘Boost’ cellular operation, while Verizon and AT&T are firmly aligned with AST and dominate US cellular.The other national carriers outside the US which have signed up to Starlink include KDDI (Japan), Optus (Australia), One NZ (New Zealand), Salt (Switzerland) and Rogers (Canada).

The supporters of Musk’s Starlink plans suggest that they are two years ahead of AST. AST firmly argues otherwise and says it will be ‘beta’ testing its service this winter, and adding more satellites in Q1 2025.

AST last week paid up a regulatory Surety Bond of $1.67 million to the FCC. The requirement from the FCC is that they must launch and operate the first five satellites within six years (of the issue of the FCC licence), or else forfeit the bond.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. India stalls again on satellite licensing
2. Bank raises AST SpaceMobile target
3. AST SpaceMobile reaches $10bn market cap
4. China uses Galactic Energy ship to launch satellites
5. Analyst ups AST SpaceMobile guidance
6. Deutsche Bank stays negative on Eutelsat
7. India would-be sat-operators increasingly upset
8. Israel wants its own satellite constellation
9. Will Starlink beat AST for direct-to-cellular?

Categories: Blogs, Broadband, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: AST SpaceMobile, DTC, Echostar, FCC, spacex, starlink