A year ago, T-Mobile partnered with SpaceX to launch T-Satellite. But on the first-year anniversary, the carrier’s CEO is hinting that it could work with other satellite providers, too.
“For us, it’s clear that with time, this is no longer going to be a differentiation. It’s going to be table stakes as a complementary service to have satellite along with your cellular service,” T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan said during a Thursday earnings call when asked about plans for T-Satellite.
In the US, T-Mobile is the exclusive provider for SpaceX’s cellular system, dubbed Starlink Mobile. On the call, the carrier confirmed the exclusivity period doesn’t end this year, even though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in 2024 that T-Mobile had one year of exclusivity.
Gopalan reiterated that T-Satellite is not a major part of the business; it makes up only 0.0002% of the carrier’s network, lower than originally expected. “In our busiest summer months, that went to 0.0003%,” he said.
“We think what’s at stake now is to make the experience of the customer agnostic of which provider you are, agnostic of which device you are, and to pull spectrum so that we can actually make this a significantly better customer experience,” he added.
(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)
That mindset is “what drove” May’s surprise joint venture that T-Mobile formed with rivals AT&T and Verizon to use satellites to address coverage gaps, Gopalan said. The goal is to pool radio spectrum to support satellite-to-phone services across providers. Although Starlink Mobile is already available in the US and other markets, rival companies, including AST SpaceMobile and Amazon-Globalstar, are also working to beam satellite connectivity to phones.
“So, looking forward, the JV [joint venture] does allow for individual operators to have conversations and agreements with other parties. But our expectation is that the vast majority will be sourced through the JV,” T-Mobile’s CEO added.
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T-Satellite’s usage has likely been low because it only activates once a phone enters a cellular dead zone, usually in a remote or rural area too far from traditional cell towers. In addition, T-Satellite is only a free perk on the carrier’s most expensive plans; for everyone else, it’s $10 per month. The other issue is that it only offers speeds at around 4Mbps, and supports only certain mobile apps, when T-Mobile’s 5G network can offer around 300Mbps in populated areas.
SpaceX has also been pitching Starlink Mobile to potential carrier partners as a complementary service. But the satellite-to-phone market could drastically shift in the coming years since SpaceX is preparing to upgrade Starlink Mobile with 5G speeds up to 150Mbps. Eventually, its goal is to serve users in urban and suburban areas, raising speculation about whether SpaceX could pose a threat to traditional wireless carriers. AT&T’s CEO isn’t worried, though.
About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Principal Reporter
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
