SpaceX plans to eradicate SIM playing cards and roaming by instantly linking telephones to its satellites. On this imaginative and prescient, your smartphone will join on to satellites orbiting Earth — offering web entry in areas with out dependable community protection.
The plan might change how folks hook up with the web worldwide. Turning the thought into actuality will take time, cash, and main technical effort
A $17 billion leap towards Direct-to-Telephone connectivity
In September 2025, SpaceX introduced a $17 billion deal to amass wi-fi spectrum licences from EchoStar, one of many largest satellite tv for pc spectrum gross sales ever recorded. The transaction contains the AWS-4 and H-block bands, key for 4G and 5G cellular networks. These frequencies will allow Starlink satellites to attach instantly to straightforward cellphones, bypassing cell towers and increasing protection worldwide.
SpaceX can pay $8.5 billion in money and one other $8.5 billion in inventory, whereas taking up about $2 billion of EchoStar’s debt. The deal grants SpaceX full management of the spectrum required to construct its direct-to-cell satellite tv for pc community on a world scale.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stated the funding will eradicate cellular lifeless zones and energy a brand new era of Starlink satellites with enhanced knowledge capability and improved telephone compatibility.
SpaceX will then develop into the primary firm to manage each layer of cellular supply from orbit, positioning it to problem telecom heavyweights like AT&T and Vodafone within the coming years.
Musk stated on the All-In Summit in September 2025 that SpaceX is constructing new satellites and smartphone chips to help direct phone-to-satellite hyperlinks.. Musk described it as a single cellular community that works anyplace on the earth.
“The online impact,” Musk stated, “is that it’s best to be capable to watch movies anyplace in your telephone.” Nevertheless, he famous that indicators could not work underneath metallic roofs or underground, although they’ll operate in most common houses.
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How Starlink’s “Direct to Cell” works
Starlink’s direct-to-phone satellite tv for pc service—additionally referred to as “Direct to Cell”—works by permitting normal 4G LTE telephones to attach on to a Starlink satellite tv for pc in orbit, without having for a Starlink dish or particular {hardware}. The corporate has launched new satellites outfitted with modems referred to as eNodeBs, which operate like cellular towers in orbit.
When customers are exterior terrestrial protection, their telephones hook up with a passing satellite tv for pc for fundamental providers, resembling texting, voice calls, and finally, restricted cellular knowledge. The satellites relay indicators by way of Starlink’s present community to floor stations, offering protection the place there’s clear sky entry.
As for pricing, Starlink’s direct-to-phone service is predicted to be cheaper than conventional satellite tv for pc telephones, which require costly {hardware} and cost excessive charges for calls and knowledge. Nevertheless, it received’t compete instantly with Starlink’s dish-based house web when it comes to pace or capability. As an alternative, Direct to Cell will concentrate on protection and accessibility, with early launches providing fundamental texting and calling earlier than increasing to cellular knowledge. Pricing will doubtless be added as an add-on to present cellular or Starlink plans, reasonably than serving as a full broadband substitute.
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Starlink’s international ambition
SpaceX aim is to show Starlink right into a single international service, the place a single account works anyplace, with out requiring roaming or SIM adjustments. “You need to be capable to have a Starlink account that works at house and in your telephone,” Musk stated, describing it as a “complete, high-bandwidth, direct-to-cell answer.”
If it really works, the mannequin might disrupt telecom techniques by changing bodily towers and roaming offers with satellite tv for pc hyperlinks. For customers, this implies simpler and extra reasonably priced web entry. For telecom operators, it presents each dangers and alternatives.
Rivals resembling AST SpaceMobile, Lynk World, and Apple’s Globalstar partnership are scrambling to maintain tempo. AST SpaceMobile, supported by AT&T and Vodafone, is pursuing full 4G/5G broadband from orbit however faces vital technical and regulatory challenges. Lynk World is specializing in smaller markets and emergency protection by way of regional partnerships, whereas Apple and Globalstar stay confined to restricted use circumstances, resembling emergency SOS messaging. But, every competitor contends with greater prices, slower rollout, and narrower scope than SpaceX’s vertically built-in mannequin.
IStarlink Ranks 2nd amongst Nigeria’s prime ISPs with over 59,000 subscribers
Starlink’s African problem: Subscriber declines amid rising prices
Regardless of its international ambitions, Starlink’s progress in Africa has lately faltered. Subscriber numbers have declined in key markets, resembling Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda, attributable to rising prices and the emergence of native rivals.
In Nigeria, Starlink misplaced an estimated 9–14% of its lively customers between late 2024 and early 2025, following a pointy enhance in its month-to-month charges from round ₦38,000 to over ₦75,000, in addition to an increase in {hardware} costs above ₦590,000. The hikes got here amid hovering inflation, international alternate pressures, and community congestion in main cities like Lagos and Abuja, the place Starlink even halted new sign-ups quickly attributable to capability limits. These financial and technical pressures prompted many customers to cancel subscriptions or change to cheaper fiber or 5G-based ISPs.
In Kenya, Starlink shed greater than 2,000 customers (round 10–11%) in early 2025 as customers returned to native ISPs providing higher pricing and sooner speeds. The decline adopted an preliminary surge in adoption throughout 2024, when Starlink helped restore connectivity throughout government-imposed web blackouts. As situations stabilised, customers pointed to greater costs and slower speeds than native fibre choices.
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In Rwanda, Starlink has seen smaller subscription declines, largely attributable to lowered subsidies and slower rural deployments. The corporate’s broader problem throughout Africa stays the identical — balancing affordability with community progress in an more and more aggressive broadband market.
The upcoming direct-to-cell expertise might assist Starlink rebalance its enterprise mannequin by shifting from pricey {hardware} gross sales to a extra versatile, service-based strategy. Presently, Starlink’s African operations depend upon costly consumer terminals, priced round ₦590,000 ($400–$500), with month-to-month charges exceeding ₦75,000 ($50+). These excessive prices have pushed consumer churn, notably in price-sensitive markets like Nigeria and Kenya.
Direct-to-cell connectivity would take away this barrier by permitting customers to attach by way of their present 4G smartphones, eliminating the necessity for Starlink {hardware} and drastically decreasing entry prices. Operationally, it might additionally allow sooner and cheaper growth, as satellites successfully function “cell towers in orbit.” This strategy reduces reliance on floor infrastructure and distribution networks, permitting SpaceX to achieve rural and distant communities extra effectively.
Finally, the mannequin opens the door for tiered pricing methods — maintaining Starlink’s dish-based broadband as a premium house service whereas introducing cellular satellite tv for pc entry at a decrease month-to-month charge, higher suited to African customers’ spending energy.
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Regulatory implications
To ship satellite tv for pc broadband providers within the 23 markets it at the moment operates in Africa, Starlink holds operational licences. In Nigeria, for instance, it holds a Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) licence to ship satellite tv for pc broadband, however providing direct-to-phone providers introduces new regulatory challenges. The NCC treats satellite tv for pc broadband and cellular connectivity underneath separate frameworks, which means SpaceX would doubtless want further authorisation for D2D or cellular satellite tv for pc providers.
For African cellular operators, the expertise presents each danger and potential. It bypasses terrestrial infrastructure and challenges present enterprise fashions. Operators like MTN, Airtel, and Vodacom could need to pivot — exploring hybrid satellite tv for pc partnerships and new digital providers to remain related.
If regulators and telecom companies collaborate with SpaceX, the service might develop digital entry throughout Africa — however it is going to face vital technical and coverage challenges.
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Frank Eleanya
Senior Reporter
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