Are you ready to buy a mobile phone service plan from Elon Musk?

The FCC recently granted Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) licenses to SpaceX and T-Mobile which will usher in a major transformation in global telecommunications and mobile networks. “Direct-to-Device” (or “Direct-to-Cell”) technologies will merge terrestrial mobile and orbital networks into a singular, ubiquitous fabric, paving the way for mass-market adoption.

This is the first authorization that pairs a major national Mobile Network Operator (MNO) with an operating Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation, enabling satellite operators to reuse terrestrial mobile radio bands under lease from the primate MNO service provider, and as such this creates a de facto template for future MNO–satellite partnerships seeking similar rights. https://news.satnews.com/2025/12/17/fcc-grants-landmark-scs-license-to-spacex-t-mobile/
#Mobility #MobilePhones #CellPhones #Satellites #SpaceX #TMobile #SCS #MNO #NGSO #Telecommunications #DirecttoDevice

Weekly output: LocalSend, Mark Vena podcast, AST SpaceMobile launch

I hope you all are enjoying the liminal time between Christmas and New Year’s–or, as I’ve come to think of it over the last 25-plus years, my last moments of occupational tranquility before work returns with force in the form of CES.

(I’ve used some of that semi-idle time to write an extra post for Patreon readers about the free trips that I didn’t take in the last quarter of this year.)

12/22/2025: This Free App Makes Transferring Files Between Devices Ridiculously Easy, PCMag

Quizzing LocalSend’s developer via e-mail taught me a lesson in how namespaces and nations can mix. As in: He goes by Tien Do Nam, in Vietnam last names come first, he lives in Berlin, so I thought to ask for his surname. He replied that the correct full name is Do Nam Tien, while his German documents list him as Tien Do Nam.

12/24/2025: Ep 117 SmartTechCheck Podcast — Trump’s impact on tech, AI data centers and energy, FCC and Google, Mark Vena

As the token Washingtonian on this podcast, I took up the first item on the agenda. My take on President Trump’s tech policy wasn’t all bad–it looks like the government is in line to save tens of billions of dollars in broadband-buildout costs, assuming that Amazon Leo satellite broadband comes online on schedule–but I can’t call it anything close to good overall.

12/24/2025: AST SpaceMobile Launches Its Most Powerful Direct-to-Cell Satellite Yet, PCMag

Was I going to use this post as an opportunity to remind PCMag readers about India’s impressive spaceflight ambitions? Absolutely.

#AirDrop #ASTSpaceMobile #BEAD #BlueBird #broadbandBuildout #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #IndiaSpaceProgram #LocalSend #lowEarthOrbitBroadband #LVM3 #MarkVena #QuickShare #satelliteBroadband #Starlink #TienDoNam

Indian rocket launches AST SpaceMobile’s next-gen BlueBird 6 satellite

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/indian-rocket-launches-ast-spacemobiles-next-gen-bluebird-6-satellite/

Weekly output: FCC independence, Starlink mobile-broadband ambitions, TAE + TMTG, best WiFi hotspots

In addition to wrapping up my holiday shopping far later than I expected, this week saw me mostly finish migrating from Evernote to Obsidian after management at the note-taking app I’ve used since 2010 elected to impose a 92 percent rate increase.

12/18/2025: FCC Scrambles to Edit Website After Chair Refuses to Say Agency Is Independent, PCMag

Here we have yet another case of the 2025 version of FCC chair Brendan Carr taking a position on a tech-policy issue explicitly rejected by an earlier model year of this man. But this time around, the Trump-loyalist chairman made his heel turn even more obvious by apparently ordering up a hasty edit of the commission’s about-us page.

12/19/2025: SpaceX Exec Tips ‘Real’ High-Speed Cellular Starlink, With 15K More Satellites, PCMag

This story started with my attending a space-telecom conference in D.C. two Mondays ago, then I needed to educate myself much more about SpaceX’s ambitions for direct-to-device broadband from a future generation of Starlink satellites.

12/19/2025: Trump’s Truth Social to Merge With Fusion Startup You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, PCMag

Will the Trump family still be so enthusiastic about TAE Technologies if their backing somehow helps it finally commercialize fusion power generation and in so doing hammers the last nail into the coffin of the coal-fired power plants so beloved by our scientifically-illiterate president? (Answer: That question is probably irrelevant, because coal is already so uncompetitive that this administration’s fossil-fuel fetishists feel compelled to issue orders to keep obsolete coal plants online on a fake “emergency” basis.)

12/19/2025: The Best Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wirecutter

I updated the “What to look forward to” section of this guide–last updated almost a year ago–to note how AT&T has added two newer models to its lineup. One of them looks like an immense improvement over our previous pick from that carrier.

#ATTHotspots #BrendanCarr #cleanPower #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #FCC #FCCIndependentAgency #FranklinA70 #fusionPower #SpaceX #Starlink #TAE #TMTG #TrumpMediaTechnologyGroup #TruthSocial #WiFiHotspots

OQ Technology links commercial IoT chipset to LEO satellite

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/oq-technology-links-commercial-iot-chipset-to-leo-satellite/

Google ubiegło Apple’a w Europie. Orange uruchamia satelitarne SMS-y. Zasięg obejmie również nasz kraj.

Wyścig o łączność satelitarną w smartfonach nabiera tempa. Podczas gdy Apple w Europie oferuje jedynie satelitarne połączenia alarmowe (SOS), Google, we współpracy z operatorem Orange, wprowadza pierwszą w Europie komercyjną usługę dwukierunkowych SMS-ów satelitarnych. Zasięg obejmuje Polskę!

Usługa o nazwie „Message Satellite” rusza już 11 grudnia 2025 roku. Warto jednak mieć na uwadze, że dostęp do niej będzie początkowo ograniczony do jednego operatora i jednej marki smartfonów.

Ekskluzywnie dla Pixeli i Orange

Zatem na start z tej innowacji skorzystają nieliczni. Usługa będzie początkowo dostępna na wyłączność dla posiadaczy smartfonów Google Pixel 9 oraz Pixel 10. Orange zastrzega, że jest to wyłączność tymczasowa i lista kompatybilnych urządzeń (z odpowiednim modemem satelitarnym) będzie się z czasem wydłużać.

Ponadto, aby zyskać dostęp do „kosmicznego” SMS-a, trzeba być także abonentem Orange 5G lub 5G+.

Jak to działa i ile kosztuje?

Usługa opiera się na rozwiązaniu „Direct to Device” i współpracy z firmą Skylo, operatorem sieci pozaziemskich (NTN). Smartfon łączy się bezpośrednio z satelitą, który przekazuje wiadomość do naziemnej sieci Orange.

Jaki zasięg? Choć oferta jest na razie skierowana do klientów we Francji kontynentalnej, zasięg obejmuje aż 36 krajów, w tym Polskę. To oznacza, że w regionach bez zasięgu naziemnego będziemy mogli wysłać wiadomość tekstową i swoją geolokalizację.

Jeżeli chodzi o cenę tego rozwiązania, to przez pierwsze 6 miesięcy usługa „Message Satellite” będzie darmowa. Po tym okresie abonament wyniesie 5 euro miesięcznie (około 21 zł).

W przeciwieństwie do Apple SOS (który jest jednokierunkowy i służy wyłącznie do wzywania pomocy), usługa Orange to pełnoprawny, dwukierunkowy SMS satelitarny.

Google Pixel z nowym panelem „Zdrowie urządzenia”. Sprawdzisz baterię i temperaturę w jednym miejscu

#appleSos #directToDevice #googlePixel9 #lacznoscSatelitarna #news #orange #pixel10 #satelitarnySms #skylo

Sateliot opens Barcelona facility to build more capable direct-to-device satellites

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/sateliot-opens-barcelona-facility-to-build-more-capable-direct-to-device-satellites/

AST SpaceMobile sheds more light on sovereign direct-to-device plan for Europe

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/ast-spacemobile-sheds-more-light-on-sovereign-direct-to-device-plan-for-europe/

EchoStar sells more spectrum in $2.6 billion deal for bigger SpaceX stake

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/echostar-sells-more-direct-to-device-spectrum-for-bigger-spacex-stake/

Kyivstar prepares to expand Starlink Direct to Cell testing across Ukraine

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/kyivstar-prepares-to-expand-starlink-direct-to-cell-testing-across-ukraine/