Satellite Phone Tech Coming to Your Mobe This Year – But Who Pays for It?
10th April 2025
This year will be Ground Zero for the commercialization of satellite smartphone services, but a key question is whether operators will charge extra for this capability or include it as part of customer subscriptions.
A report by mobile industry analyst 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.
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 announced a beta service in February, which offers just text messages for now, with data and voice calls coming later.