AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon formally established the joint venture focused on direct-to-device services the telcos first announced in May of this year. Wireless industry exec Paul Roth will serve as interim CEO during a search for a permanent CEO.
The three telcos are teaming up on D2D calling for competition among satellite providers, a standards-based approach to device compatibility, and efficient use of spectrum. This comes as SpaceX has set its sights on competing with the “big three” with its next-generation Starlink Mobile service.
“More satellite service providers will gain opportunities to compete, invest, and grow and the JV will work with rural mobile network operators (MNO) to enable them to bring new products to market for their customers,” Friday’s announcement said.
The companies said this will result in fewer coverage gaps, improved network performance, and more access to D2D services for their customers.
The JV is not exclusive, the MNOs said their existing carrier-satellite agreements will remain in place and the JV partners can continue independent connectivity efforts.
The three carriers currently take different approaches to working with satellite players for D2D. T-Mobile offers service with SpaceX; AT&T is set to offer service with AST SpaceMobile; Verizon offers service on some Android phones with Skylo and has a commercial agreement with AST SpaceMobile as well.
After announcing plans for the JV, the MNO CEOs made it clear they want multiple satellite options in a wholesale market for D2D.
“We’ll keep pricing in check, so there isn’t a bottleneck of any particular single provider that can dictate what that pricing is,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said in May.
T-Mobile CEO Srinivasan Gopalan later told investors he expects “the vast majority [of satellite] will be sourced through the JV” in the future.
