Elon Musk's Starlink Not a Threat to Wireless Carriers, Says T-Mobile CFO: ‘You Can Have a Million Satellites…’

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T-Mobile US Inc. ' Chief Financial Officer Pete Osvaldik says that Space Exploration Technologies Corp. 's Starlink is not a threat to traditional telecom operators.

Osvaldik, speaking at Citigroup Inc. 's 2026 Global TMT Conference on Wednesday, pushed back on the idea that satellite-to-phone service can replace traditional wireless networks. The company argued that distance-related signal limits make the technology unsuitable as a full alternative, especially indoors.

"By the time the signal has gotten to your phone, you have no signal strength left," he said. Osvaldik said that it was difficult to get signal through a Tesla Inc. windshield. "You can have a million satellites up there with all the spectrum in the world, you can't break the fundamental laws of physics," he said.

Osvaldik also said that SpaceX would need "probably over a billion femtocells to have the equivalent outdoor coverage with all the interference problems." A Femtocell is a device that improves indoor cellular coverage and data speeds.

"It's not a competitive threat" from a wireless perspective, Osvaldik said, but acknowledged that it could pose challenges in the broadband sector, as they can solve challenges with "spectral assets" and "external powered antennas," Osvaldik said, adding that SpaceX could see success in the rural and suburban regions.

Osvaldik also questioned SpaceX's data center strategies. Speaking from the perspective of SpaceX's management team, to criticize their strategy, he said "I have AI data centers with a payback of 1–1.5 years, and I'm gonna spend $100+ billion on building a non-competitive network. He added that either the company was "the world's worst capital allocator" or that it was not going to happen.

Earlier, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell had said during the company's earnings call that it plans to take on traditional telecom companies with Starlink Mobile by end of 2027. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also intends to unlock more than 1,000 MHz of additional spectrum for satellite broadband.

Notably, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said that the company has signed a new agreement to offer compute capabilities that will result in a monthly revenue of more than $1 billion, while the annual recurring revenue (ARR) would go past $13 billion from the deal.