Satellite phone tech coming to your mobe this year – but who pays for it?
- Reference: 1744304591
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/10/satellite_phone_service/
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A report by mobile industry analyst [1]GSMA Intelligence says that the monetization of satellite services may hinge on whether mobile operators decide to charge for them, with a mixture of approaches already evident.
To be clear, we're talking about satellite connectivity with unmodified, standard smartphones, for when you're out of cellular range or service, not dedicated sat-phones that have been around for years already.
[2]
T-Mobile in the US, for example, has already said that satellite service will be included at no extra cost on high-value subscriptions, while customers on other plans can add the service for $15 per month. The company [3]announced a beta service in February , which offers just text messages for now, with data and voice calls coming later.
[4]
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In contrast, telco One New Zealand has said it is including satellite service for its subscribers in the Pacific island nation at no extra cost.
Both T-Mobile and One New Zealand have signed up with SpaceX's Starlink satellite service in order to provide the capability for their customers to stay connected when out of range of their network's cell towers.
[6]
As ever, we must point out that Apple has been offering satellite messaging for owners of its smartphones ever since the [7]launch of the iPhone 14 , which is free for two years following activation of the device. This capability is provided by the Globalstar satellite service.
But there are other options, with Vodafone teaming up with another satellite operator, AST SpaceMobile, to [8]offer a commercial direct-to-phone satellite service in Europe starting sometime later this year. This could net it an addressable base of some 70 million people, according to GSMA.
We asked Vodafone if it was going to include satellite connectivity as part of its service plans or make it a paid-for extra, but it seems the company isn't ready to talk about this just yet.
[9]
Britain's telecoms regulator Ofcom [10]kicked off a consultation at the end of March about licensing such services in the UK, hinting this could be in place before the end of this year – in which case Vodafone will likely be first in line.
The GSMA claims that, based on published tariffs, the implied increase for an average contract customer for satellite capability could be between 10 to 30 percent - making it roughly even with the premiums for LTE and 5G connectivity pricing when those were launched.
It says any impact on operator overall revenues cannot yet be measured, as services are largely pre-commercial, but this will be a crucial metric it will track over the course of 2025.
However, an [11]earlier report from it found from a survey that 40 percent of mobile subscribers wouldn't be prepared to pay any more for satellite capability, while 32 percent might be willing to pay up to 5 percent extra on their tariff, 17 percent said they'd be willing to pay up to 10 percent extra, and only 4 percent were prepared to stump up another 20 percent.
Joe Gardiner, Research Analyst at CCS Insight, told The Register he believes satellite SMS services will be included in most mobile plans in an operator's portfolio to enhance the plan's value - as has already been seen with One New Zealand.
"I was interested to see the price point T-Mobile chose of $15 a month; this was higher than I expected for SMS texting," he said, adding "Once voice and data capabilities are available in the US, I think T-Mobile may reconsider its satellite pricing model, lowering or eliminating the price of SMS while charging for voice and data functions, possibly at a higher price than what it currently charges for SMS."
[12]Commercial space station outfit plans two Orbital Data Center nodes by the end of 2025
[13]M365 Family users wake up to notice 'Your subscription expired'
[14]Amazon's Project Kuiper satellites now boarding the rocket to relevance
[15]European Gaia mapping satellite is retired but proves very tough to kill
Emergency messaging is likely to be free in all countries due to its relatively small use and potential to help people in danger, creating good publicity for the operator and satellite company, Gardiner said.
"Once voice and data functions have been approved by regulators, I think they will be priced as an add-on or only included in the most premium plans by most operators. Given the capacity needed for these functions, it is highly unlikely they would bundle it in with mid and low-tier plans," he predicted.
However, emergency voice calls will likely be offered for free for the same reasons as emergency messaging, and might even be a condition of their license agreement with the regulator.
GSMA's report notes that on paper, Starlink should be leaving AST SpaceMobile in its dust, given that the latter currently has just five satellites in orbit, a small fraction of the [16]more than 7,000 that Starlink has so far lofted into space.
But the higher capacity available with AST's larger satellites means it does not require as many in orbit to provide a comparable level of service, and the biz estimates 45 to 60 satellites will allow it to provide full coverage over North America and Europe. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.gsmaintelligence.com/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z_g_gJ7sa6JUvdGChK3qyQAAAEQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/tmobile_goes_live_with_beta/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z_g_gJ7sa6JUvdGChK3qyQAAAEQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z_g_gJ7sa6JUvdGChK3qyQAAAEQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z_g_gJ7sa6JUvdGChK3qyQAAAEQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/07/apple_iphone_watch_launch/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/30/vodafone_aims_to_offer_satellitetophone/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z_g_gJ7sa6JUvdGChK3qyQAAAEQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/26/ofcom_could_authorize_uk_satellite/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/02/sat_phone_user_pay/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/09/data_centers_leo_axiom_space/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/not_just_you_microsoft_365/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/03/project_kuiper_launch/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/31/esa_gaia_satellite/
[16] https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: This is What'll Happen
Totally agree, it's a service that has some appeal to me, but I live in one of the areas of the world that doesn't have continuous cell tower coverage. I actually DO pay about $20/mo for a Garmin InReach messenger, and I used a SPOT previous... so while I have rigorous questions about the reliability of a cell phone-based service, I would actually pay something to not have to carry a second device with me when I'm out and about roaming off the grid. As such... these services are probably a bad thing for Garmin and the existing satellite operators for small messaging services (Inmarsat, Iridium), but probably not going to be that widely used generally.
Re: This is What'll Happen
Perhaps...
What we might see is that they roll it out, barely anyone uses it... and then they pretty much cease any maintenance of ground based networks. After all, why keep up the expensive hardware on the ground when you've got expensive hardware in the sky? Then all the ground networks start to be flakey, and people will naturally migrate to the more expensive - more reliable - satellite system.
And then instead of three or four operators and a lot of redundancy, we end up with one or two operators and a network almost wholly owned by a foreign nation we can't trust in times of conflict. (I know, that last bit sounds so unrealistic...).
What is cheaper for the telco in rural areas ?
They all like boasting what %age of the country that they cover. Building towers where there is little population is not something that they like to do: reference a friend of mine who lives in the middle of no-where in Wales.
It might be cheaper for them to swallow the cost of satellite service and be able to claim 100% coverage than to build & maintain towers that will be little used.
Re: What is cheaper for the telco in rural areas ?
"a friend of mine who lives in the middle of no-where in Wales."
Is that not tautological?
Re: What is cheaper for the telco in rural areas ?
And here in the poor old USofA there are large areas that aren't reached by cell service and the states have "committed" to 100% broadband access by 20xx. Local communities (speaking of Vermont) are pretty vehement about not allowing new cell towers. This may allow the states to say they have fulfilled their commitments by just showing that it is available via these cell-phone satellite capabilities.
Re: What is cheaper for the telco in rural areas ?
Here in NZ (and most other "western" nations, the telcos have sold off their terrestrial tower networks to a third party. There might a perverse incentive not to expand terrestrial coverage any further as it might cost them more than expanding their networks by more cell towers in space. Interesting times ahead.
I'd pay extra to ensure my money never goes to Musk or his Kessler syndrome causing ecological disaster.
I'm only talking through Sputnik.
Where the phones are
The vast majority of phone users are in cities so that's the low-hanging fruit for telcos. The added expense of satellites to serve that market would be silly. The people far out of the way become more and more expensive to serve as they move away from terrestrial infrastructure.
I go places where I don't have service and it doesn't bother me. I don't need reminders that my auto warranty is about to expire in real time. I've also trained most people that if they don't leave a message when they get voice mail, they didn't call. Just had one yesterday selling a thing on Craigslist but they didn't want to give me a phone number so I could coordinate with them to meet up. They say they tried to call me, but I expect they blocked their number which won't ring through to my phone and I had told them that. Oh well, I can spend my money elsewhere. It was a good deal, but I find those often enough and I didn't need the thing right away, but was going to be in the area.
What matters is how Starlink bills them
Do they get billed per minute? Per customer that uses it at least once in a month? Per customer that has it available? Some combination of all of the above?
That will determine how telcos ultimately bill their customers. I expect the top end gold plated packages, and the packages that corporations buy in bulk for their employee devices, will have it included. It will be an add on for everyone else.
Apple is a different case. They bought a bunch of new satellites for Globalstar to operate, so it is essentially a fixed cost service for them. I think emergency messaging will always be free for iPhone owners, but ultimately all the non emergency type stuff will be free for some limited time like a year or two but eventually you'll have to pay and it'll probably appear as another service included in Apple One. Of course there will be some overlap because people have satellite stuff through their carrier wouldn't need to pay for duplication from Apple, or vice versa if what they get on their iPhone is good enough they won't want to pay their carrier for it (including having their carrier give them something "for free" they won't be using)
Number of players
Another thing to consider is the number of players in the market currently, and how much of a consolidation we are going to see? European regulators have tired to maintain a minimum of three MNOs in their markets, as two heads towards a duopoly situation. Will we see the same for the space based services, IF they can find some means of making it pay in the first place. I would guess that with the costs of getting into space in the first place, we are not going to see more than one or two players remain viable. Just about every NGSO satellite network to date (baring SpaceX) has gone bust, and some have even been resurrected as there are valuable defence contracts still to be serviced, or hardware flung up to the heavens.
This is What'll Happen
My 2p...
Those networks that roll it out "as standard", part of their packages, what they'll find is that it largely goes unused. There will be sporadic, occassional use, or very concentrated use (such as in those Pacific islands mentioned in the article, where I'm guessing cell, WiFi and broadband coverage is a bit thinner). Then they'll wonder why they're paying for it if no one is using it, and stop providing it.
Those networks that have it as a paid add-on are likely to find an initial flurry, and then they too notice that punters aren't buying it. But, at least they're not losing money on the deal.
The problem with all this kind of thing for retail mobile telephony is that, having spent so much time building out huge networks of cellular coverage, and with most punters also having access to broadband or WiFi at home, work, in some cities, on trains, buses, and planes, there's comparatively little call for retail satellite mobile services. And if the tech allows them to start offering fat broadband pipes in preference to cellular coverage, it'll cost quite a lot of money and will probably flatten phone batteries pretty rapidly, and won't work indoors anyway (which is where a lot of people in air-conditioned countries spend their time anyway, along with a WiFi hotspot). No one in their daily lives wants to have to sign up to each and every WiFi service in whatever buildings they're walking into, simply to get coverage. Cellular service coverage inside buildings is a major aspect of its service provision, and also the reason why the original networks are focused on the 900MHz band which is the ideal compromise for mobile antenna size and good penetration of structures.
Things may change, of course, but I strongly doubt it.