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Yesterday (23 June 2025), in a press conference organised with only a few days’ notice, T-Mobile US announced it would commercially launch a satellite direct-to-device (D2D) service for consumers, in partnership with Starlink.
The service is branded ‘T-Satellite with Starlink’ (i.e. with Starlink in the brand). In this article, we discuss:
- What makes the announcement significant?
- What is on offer and to whom?
- What is the timeline for roll-out?
- What is T-Mobile’s strategy with T-Satellite?
- And how might AT&T and Verizon respond?
“You’ll have coverage almost anywhere you go”.
Such is the promise T-Mobile is making to its prospective T-Satellite customers. While acknowledging en passant the bathos of the ‘almost anywhere’ here, the commitment is to realise the long-heralded promise of ubiquitous connectivity to standard mobile devices (direct-to-device), with connectivity to and from satellites taking over where terrestrial coverage has not gone before.
What are the details?
It is indeed a bold move by T-Mobile and these are the key points:
- Handover from the terrestrial network to satellite and back is automatic, and works exactly the same way as on the terrestrial network: the phone simply switches over from one cell to another, and picks up the strongest available signal. For AT&T and Verizon customers, this presumably works in the same way as any other national roaming.
- The full commercial service will be launched on 23 July. Meanwhile, 1.8 million users are already signed up to the beta service.
- The operator wants to sign up as many users to the beta ahead of the commercial launch and, to this end, is offering the service free of charge till then. And that includes AT&T and Verizon subscribers.
- After launch, the service will continue to be offered to AT&T and Verizon customers, who will have to pay USD10 per month for the privilege, for a “limited time” (after which it goes up to USD15). Meanwhile, T-Satellite will be offered at no extra cost to T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond and Go5G Next subscribers.
- The initial offering comprises the ability to make and receive text messages via satellite, with MMS also being available on Android devices (MMS: does anyone do that anymore?). MMS support for iPhone is promised to follow shortly.
- From 1 October, T-Satellite will add 4G-based apps adapted to the higher latencies and reduced throughputs of the satellite links. The initial apps mentioned include AccuWeather, AllTrails, Apple and Google mapping and messaging apps, WhatsApp and X. T-Mobile is also offering an SDK to help developers produce T-Satellite-compatible versions of their apps.
- The service is available to “60+” devices: most Android and iOS devices produced in the last four years. These devices require no modifications or apps to access the service, as the Starlink satellites involved (over 650 from launch) transmit using T-Mobile’s licensed 1900MHz spectrum.
What’s the plan?
Beyond the details of the plans – the services and prices – what is T-Mobile’s strategy here?
On the face of it, what is on offer is somewhat underwhelming. Who even uses text messaging nowadays? (Rhetorical question.) In the announcement, it was revealed that beta users receive three times more text messages than they make via the satellite links. So, you can still receive marketing, spam and two-factor authentication messages in what will no longer now be pure wilderness locations, even if you don’t wish to send any SMS yourself.
What it could also mean – eventually – is that in crowded locations where the cellular network is overwhelmed (sports arenas during football tournaments, or any kind of live events), live pictures you are desperately trying to send won’t get stuck in your phone because everyone is trying to do the same. This might seem a far cry from the emergency situations with which satellite connectivity has traditionally been associated with; but for some users, such network availability is important. Therefore it should be, and is, important to carriers too (cue T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom’s motto of 2023, “Connecting your world”). Voice calls will be added at some point, but no date for that has been disclosed.
Cynicism about the limited initial capabilities aside, the ability to connect to a mobile network almost anywhere that lacks terrestrial coverage is clearly a highly valuable service in many parts of the US, where – according to T-Mobile – there are 500,000 square miles that are currently not covered.
At STL Partners, we have been saying for two years that telcos that are first-to-market with ubiquitous D2D coverage stand to gain significant first-mover advantage: they will put their competitors on the back foot and force them to reciprocate. But meanwhile, the first mover can aggressively sign up as many of their competitors’ subscribers as they can.
You can bet your bottom ten dollars that T-Mobile will be busy inducing those AT&T and Verizon beta users to switch over to T-Mobile before they have to pay for the facility. Let alone others that might be tempted to follow suit once the commercial service is up and running.
Indeed, at the same event as the T-Satellite announcement, T-Mobile introduced a new promotion called ‘Easy Upgrade’. This offers to pay the balance customers owe on their current Verizon phone and replace it with a premium phone from T-Mobile (which will of course be capable of accessing the T-Satellite service).
What do AT&T and Verizon do about it?
Verizon, for its part, is not all that far behind. Through a partnership with Skylo (which aggregates coverage from several geostationary (GEO) satellite providers, in contrast to Starlink’s low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites), Verizon’s previously announced plan was to launch two-way texting in 2025, and voice calling by 2026. However, the devices involved need to include chipsets enabling them to operate via satellite spectrum; so, the initial handset choices will be much more limited.
AT&T also plans to launch text and voice services in a similar time frame via its partnership with one of the other LEO start-ups, AST SpaceMobile. However, AST’s constellation is a fraction of the size of Starlink’s, with only five satellites in orbit, as of the latest information. It is planning to rapidly expand its constellation, and its mobile antenna rays are bigger and more powerful than Starlink’s, meaning that 4G and 5G data will be supported from the outset. But the crucial differentiator – coverage – will be deficient for some time to come.
So, T-Mobile’s T-Satellite has two main advantages here, on top of being the first mover:
- Wider coverage, thanks to Starlink’s significant and ever-expanding constellation
- The automatic switchover capability on a wide array of handsets.
So, is satellite the ‘star link’?
T-Mobile’s initiative has clearly put AT&T on the back foot, and the ‘un-carrier’ has a window of opportunity to sign up those of its rivals’ customers that are lured by the promise of (nearly) ubiquitous coverage and – even more so – by the ‘Easy Upgrade’ offer.
Many subscribers may not, however, be so happy that their satellite links are assured by Elon Musk’s Starlink. That is, perhaps, not as much of an impediment in the US as it might be in other geographies. But the ‘T-Mobile with Starlink’ moniker may be something that AT&T and Verizon can turn to T-Mobile’s disadvantage. However, they’re going to have to be quick to market with credible alternatives.