SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said she expects to take some customers from the Big 3 wireless carriers as it upgrades Starlink Mobile.
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SpaceX wants to turn Starlink Mobile into a full-fledged mobile carrier, and it expects to hit the Big Three wireless giants in the process.During SpaceX's first earnings call since its June IPO, President Gwynne Shotwell said the company plans to launch its next-generation Starlink Mobile satellites in 2027 and start providing an upgraded service by the end of that year.The network would use the extra wireless capacity — 65 megahertz of spectrum — that the company agreed to acquire from EchoStar. Shotwell said the result would be "100 times better" than Starlink Mobile's current service.Shotwell also namedropped the three dominating wireless carriers in the US — AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile — and said Starlink will provide a better service."I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers because I think our service will be better," she said.Starlink Mobile currently acts mostly as a satellite safety net for phone carriers. The company's satellites operate like cell towers in space, connecting phones when on-the-ground service is unavailable, including in remote areas or emergency situations.In the US, T-Mobile partners with SpaceX to provide satellite-to-cellular connectivity through a service branded as T-Satellite. The service isn't a full substitute for a standard 4G or 5G plan.
