Deutsche Telekom headquarters in headquarter in Bonn, Germany. Photo: Deutsche Telekom/Norbert Ittermann

Deutsche Telekom will leverage SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile V2 constellation for direct-to-device (D2D) services to close coverage gaps in 10 European countries, it said in a statement Monday. The agreement would make it SpaceX’s first partner to come onboard for SpaceX’s future D2D service using the recently purchased mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum that SpaceX acquired in September.

The service will operate only on Starlink’s D2D mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum, which will allow compatible smartphones to communicate directly with Starlink satellites. SpaceX purchased EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses for around $17 billion in September.

SpaceX is planning for the next generation of satellites capable of communicating directly with cell phones. This constellation was previously called Starlink Direct-to-Cell and is now being referred to as Starlink Mobile. V2 Starlink Mobile satellites will be designed to operate in MSS spectrum, and SpaceX has said the satellites will deliver 5G speeds.

The partnership will serve millions of people and areas inaccessible to terrestrial network infrastructure because of topography or nature preservation requirements, Deutsche Telekom said in a statement.

It will also shore up network resilience in emergency situations, the company said. Starlink’s separate broadband constellation garnered attention last year when its network remained active during nationwide blackouts in Spain and Portugal that crippled terrestrial connectivity infrastructure.

“We provide our customers with the best mobile network. And we continue to invest heavily in expanding our infrastructure,” Deutsche Telekom Board Member for Product and Technology Abdu Mudesir commented. “At the same time, there are regions where expansion is especially complex due to topographical conditions or official constraints. We want to ensure reliable connectivity for our customers in those areas as well. That is why we are strategically complementing our network with satellite-to-mobile connectivity.”

The service is scheduled to launch in early 2028 in several European markets.

Deutsche Telekom is the majority shareholder in T-Mobile in the U.S., which has an existing partnership with Starlink for direct-to-device service in the U.S.