Photo: MasOrange

Spanish telco MasOrange will trial Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell service under a new agreement with SpaceX announced Monday. 

The Spanish regulator, the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, granted approval for spectrum assigned to MasOrange to be used for Starlink Direct-to-Cell. This is often called supplemental coverage from space (SCS). 

MasOrange plans to carry out a technical pilot in the Spanish province of Valladolid. The telco did not specify timing of the trials or what phones are eligible. Users will be able to use data on their devices to use certain applications as well as messaging services. MasOrange said that Starlink Direct-to-Cell will serve as a network complement, particularly in remote, high mountain, or coastal environments. 

“We are very pleased to announce this agreement with Starlink, which reinforces our commitment to innovation and to always offering the best services to our customers through the use of all available technologies,” said Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MasOrange. 

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar rolled out service late last year, and Virgin Media has a customer rollout planned for 2026 for a new service in the U.K. enabled by Starlink D2C called O2 Satellite.

MasOrange is partially owned by French telco Orange, which recently announced a deal to acquire the remaining 50% stake from Lorca. That purchase is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Orange currently offers a satellite messaging service working with Skylo on certain Google Pixel smartphones.