A new kind of space race: Companies vie over market for satellite-enabled phone calls

The T-Mobile plan was announced last year at a press conference at SpaceX’s Starbase complex in Texas, with chief executive officer Mike Sievert joining Musk. — Reuters

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and T-Mobile US Inc have picked up a powerful critic of their proposal to offer phone calls via satellite, with AT&T Inc saying the plan risks interfering with existing wireless services.

Regulators “should reject SpaceX’s request to simply take it at its word that it will not cause interference” and demand more information before allowing the service, AT&T said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission released Friday.

AT&T has its own plan for calls via satellite and said it intends to show that offering, via AST SpaceMobile Inc, won’t cause interference with conventional ground-based systems that rely on towers.

Companies are in a race to tap the market for satellite-enabled calls offering connections in remote areas beyond the reach of cell towers. The new services aim to use normal consumer mobile phones, rather than specialised equipment.

The T-Mobile plan was announced last year at a press conference at SpaceX’s Starbase complex in Texas, with chief executive officer Mike Sievert joining Musk. The service, which leverages SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, should be able to handle messages, images and possibly small video files at first. Voice capabilities will come later.

AT&T partner SpaceMobile in April announced a successful voice call via satellite from Texas to Japan. It hasn’t said when satellite-enabled voice service may be offered to the public. Meanwhile, Apple Inc’s new iPhones let users send texts via satellite to first responders and report crashes in areas without cellular coverage.

T-Mobile and SpaceX didn’t immediately return requests for comment on AT&T’s filing. – Bloomberg