Why SpaceX Has an Uphill Battle Growing Starlink Mobile

SpaceX executives say its Starlink Mobile direct-to-cell service offered through mobile carriers will eventually reach hundreds of millions of customers around the globe, which would help justify SpaceX’s valuation. But right now, the service’s revenue is tiny.

T-Mobile, for instance, SpaceX’s only mobile partner in the U.S., is offering its customers access to Starlink Mobile in exchange for paying SpaceX a total of around $100 million as it hits service milestones, according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal. That includes an up-front payment worth tens of millions made when T-Mobile originally struck the deal in 2022, as well as additional payments linked to the service’s launch last year.