The next battle in mobile telecommunications may not be fought over more cell towers. It may be fought above them. That possibility has acquired new urgency after SpaceX said at its first public earnings call that it intends to turn Starlink Mobile into a fuller mobile service capable of competing directly for customers of America’s established wireless companies. The company plans a new generation of satellites and has acquired substantial spectrum for the purpose. What is being presented as an American telecom battle could, however, become a much larger contest over who controls the next layer of global connectivity.

The technology is not unique to SpaceX. AST SpaceMobile is building satellites designed to connect ordinary smartphones directly to space, and three more of its BlueBird satellites were launched on August 5. It has partnerships with dozens of mobile operators across several continents. Amazon Leo has separately proposed a constellation of as many as 5,105 satellites for direct-to-device voice, messaging and data, with deployment planned from 2028. Lynk Global is already testing direct-to-device services with mobile operators in countries including the Philippines and New........

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