- T-Mobile has rejected the idea of sharing its network with Starlink
- The company’s CEO argues that satellite is an “inferior” technology to what T-Mobile currently uses
- Verizon and AT&T have also turned Starlink down
For all its lofty ambitions, Starlink Mobile doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere fast. SpaceX recently announced plans to build “the world’s most advanced mobile network” using its Starlink satellites, but satellites alone won’t cut it — the service also needs ground-based infrastructure and enough spectrum to power it, neither of which Starlink really has.
So its initial plan seemed to be to launch an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) by partnering with T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T and gaining access to their infrastructure.
However, all three of those names have rejected SpaceX’s proposition, with T-Mobile’s CEO, Srini Gopalan, recently going so far as to say in an earnings call (via WCCFTech) that “satellite is an inferior version of FWA with even more constraints in terms of things like what is the size of the beam.”
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No need for satellites
FWA, or fixed wireless access, is what carriers often use to bring broadband to homes and other static locations in rural areas, combining a router with a 5G or 4G signal, rather than using fibre optic cables.
FWA exists in urban areas too, but it’s particularly useful where conventional broadband struggles. So, essentially, Gopalan is arguing that satellite connectivity is a worse option, even in many rural and hard-to-reach areas, than FWA.
On top of that, Gopalan claims that “two-thirds of our FWA customers come from dense urban areas. We see huge growth opportunities in those areas still, all under the fallow capacity model. So we don’t really see a synergistic opportunity with satellite providers.”
All of which could be a big problem for SpaceX, as it’s likely the company will have to rely primarily on its satellites for now. Though with its plans to launch 15,000 new satellites, lease 80,000 cell tower sites, and possibly install cellular base stations on existing Starlink dishes, it could still deliver a viable mobile network — and a threat to the big three — eventually.
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James Rogerson
