SpaceX has secured FCC approval to deploy and operate 15,000 next-generation satellites for Starlink Mobile, giving the company a regulatory path to turn its direct-to-cell service into a full competitor to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
The FCC granted SpaceX’s application in part this week in order DA 26-1078, adopted and released October 6, 2026, after the company filed for the constellation in September 2025. PCMag reports the decision opens a regulatory path for Starlink Mobile to challenge the big three carriers, something SpaceX executives have been teasing. The FCC also waived the rule requiring a spectrum leasing deal with a ground-based mobile operator.
Today’s “version 1” runs in the United States only through T-Mobile as T-Satellite, using about 650 satellites with data speeds estimated at 4Mbps. The new constellation promises 5G speeds of 150Mbps per user, according to the company, using satellites plus smaller, cost-effective ground femtocells to reach phones in suburbs and cities, though T-Mobile’s CFO has dismissed that approach.
The satellites will fly from 335 kilometers down to a record-low 326 kilometers (202 miles), and the FCC cleared SpaceX to use more EchoStar spectrum, including the 1695 to 1710, 2000 to 2020, 2180 to 2200, 1915 to 1920 and 1995 to 2000 MHz bands, for cellular use in and outside the country. Testing on those bands can only start after Step Two of the SpaceX-EchoStar deal closes, scheduled for November 30, 2027, by which time SpaceX projects the first “version 2” Starlink Mobile satellites will be launching.
The grant also lets the satellites keep using T-Mobile’s “PCS G-block” spectrum (1910 to 1915 and 1990 to 1995 MHz) even as T-Mobile downplays T-Satellite and weighs other partners. The approval came despite objections from rivals and environmental groups, while the FCC deferred SpaceX’s requests for the 2020 to 2025 MHz band and the 1429 to 2690 MHz range outside the U.S.
The move builds on the FCC’s November 2024 commercial direct-to-cell license and follows SpaceX’s outline of its next-generation plans, with Starlink direct-to-cell already reaching its first Southeast Asian market this year.
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