T-Mobile's CFO Dismisses SpaceX's Cellular Ambitions As Laughable
T-Mobile's outgoing CFO, Peter Osvaldik, dismissed SpaceX's plans to use ground-based femtocells for mobile coverage as a non-competitive and laughable idea. Osvaldik argued that the strategy lacks feasibility due to the estimated need for over a billion base stations and the absence of sufficient radio spectrum. Despite these criticisms, SpaceX continues to pursue Starlink Mobile, which currently partners with T-Mobile to provide satellite-based connectivity services.
- ▪T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik stated that SpaceX's cellular ambitions are not a competitive threat and lack a viable strategy.
- ▪Osvaldik estimated that achieving equivalent outdoor coverage with femtocells would require over a billion units and cost more than $100 billion.
- ▪SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell previously described plans to deploy small, low-power cellular base stations alongside Starlink broadband dishes.
- ▪Industry analyst Earl Lum criticized the femtocell approach as one of the worst ideas in his four decades of experience in the wireless industry.
- ▪SpaceX currently partners with T-Mobile to offer Starlink Mobile, which uses over 600 satellites for limited data and voice services.
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SpaceX’s plan to use its ground network to offer mobile coverage is facing backlash from T-Mobile’s outgoing CFO, who implied that the telecom industry finds the idea laughable.“It’s not a competitive threat from a wireless perspective, at all,” Peter Osvaldik said when asked about SpaceX’s cellular plans at Citi's 2026 Global TMT Conference on Wednesday. Osvaldik made the comment a month after SpaceX revealed on an earnings call that it envisions using both satellites and small, low-power cellular base stations for its phone service, Starlink Mobile. “You could put a base station, a cellular base station, on basically the gear that holds a Starlink broadband dish. So you can have kind of these little femtocells around the country,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at the time.
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