SpaceX is eyeing the ambitious goal of serving “hundreds of millions” of devices with its cellular Starlink service for phones, which currently serves about 16 million users.
A SpaceX executive mentioned the figure on Monday as the company officially rebranded its “Direct to Cell” phone-to-satellite service as Starlink Mobile, after filing to trademark it last year.
“The second-generation Starlink Mobile system will be epic—broadband connectivity to hundreds of millions of phones globally,” tweeted Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s VP for Satellite Engineering.
In a keynote speech at Mobile World Congress, Nicolls also spilled a few more details about the company’s efforts to power satellite connectivity to unmodified smartphones. The first-generation system already spans 650 satellites and has so far “connected over 16 million unique users,” Nicolls said. On a monthly basis, the system also has 10 million active users through partner carriers, including T-Mobile in the US, Rogers in Canada, and KDDI in Japan.
(Credit: MWC)
“We expect that number to exceed 25 million by the end of 2026,” Nicolls later added. Using orbiting satellites, instead of ground-based cell towers, also means that Starlink Mobile is the “largest 4G coverage by geographic area in the world,” enabling it to serve eligible users in cellular dead zones across the globe, he said.
The company aims to serve “hundreds of millions, potentially more, devices,” by upgrading Starlink Mobile with a second-generation satellite constellation, Nicolls said. He revealed that the company plans to launch the first batch of second-generation satellites in the middle of next year using SpaceX’s upcoming Starship vehicle.
“We’ll be able to launch more than 50 satellites on every [Starship] launch, and we’ll begin launching in mid-2027,” he said. “With Starship, we’ll be able to deploy the constellation very quickly. Our goal is to deploy a constellation capable of providing global and continuous coverage within six months. And that’s roughly 1,200 satellites.”
(Credit: MWC)
In addition, the company aims to scale out the constellation over time, potentially to 15,000 satellites, according to a SpaceX regulatory filing. The company’s efforts in satellite connectivity for phones have even caused CEO Elon Musk to entertain competing with mobile carriers. But at the MWC keynote, SpaceX seemed to emphasize a partnership approach with wireless providers, rather than directly competing with them.
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“What’s our overall vision here?” Nicolls asked. “It’s where Starlink Mobile is a key component of a hybrid network that includes terrestrial and satellite capabilities. Satellite is complementary to terrestrial networks; it cannot provide the data density that terrestrial networks have. But it can augment terrestrial networks in the places where terrestrial networks cannot reach. Or when terrestrial networks need additional capacity.”
The statement was delivered at MWC, an annual gathering of telecommunications providers, where SpaceX is likely seeking to secure additional partnerships for Starlink Mobile. The service was previously known as “Direct to Cell.” But on Monday, the company debuted the new Starlink Mobile name, along with a website for it. The rebrand might get a little confusing, since SpaceX’s partner carriers have also been promoting their own names for the service. In the US, for example, T-Mobile calls it T-Satellite. Canadian carrier Rogers simply calls it Rogers Satellite.
Where SpaceX is currently offering Starlink Mobile and where it’ll eventually arrive. (Credit: Starlink)
SpaceX’s keynote at MWC covered a lot of information about the satellite-to-phone service that SpaceX has previously revealed in presentations and regulatory filings. For example, last week, one SpaceX policy manager revealed: “We are aiming at peak speeds of 150Mbps per user.”
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Nicolls reiterated the speed goal. But he also elaborated, noting the antenna—also known as the phased array—on each next-generation satellite will be “five times larger” than the first-gen satellites, “and four times the bandwidth per beam.”
“The second-generation satellite will have nearly 100 times the data density of a V1 satellite. Again, we accomplish this with a much larger phased array, which means a smaller spot beam on the ground. And as well as 16 times the number of beams per satellite and other advanced features,” he said.
The current version of Starlink Mobile can already power video calls, text messaging, and select apps, enabling users in cellular dead zones to receive connectivity. But the service remains bandwidth-constrained, with speeds estimated at around 4Mbps.
Last year, SpaceX reached a deal to acquire valuable radio spectrum from Boost Mobile’s parent, EchoStar, paving the way for the next-generation satellites to harness even more radio frequencies to beam better performance. The spectrum deal doesn’t officially close until Nov. 30, 2027. Last fall, Musk also mentioned a “two-year timeframe” for phone manufacturers to develop and adopt the chips capable of receiving signals from the EchoStar spectrum.
In the MWC keynote, Nicolls added: “So when we launch, which is expected in mid-2027, we will be on most devices in the US.”
About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Senior 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. Earlier this year, 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 President Trump’s tariffs will affect the industry. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.