Side by Side: Who Owns the Sky Above Your Phone?

Today’s letter noted Washington’s approval of SpaceX’s phone satellites, which must be half aloft by 2032 and complete by 2035. The monk looked up from his phone, which had no signal, and asked who else is building a sky.

United States

Starlink had about 11,045 satellites in orbit in August and more than 12 million customers in over 160 countries and territories by June. Amazon’s rival, now called Leo, had 396 aloft by July out of 3,236 planned, and has been given two more years to get halfway.

China

Two national constellations. Guowang had roughly 170 satellites up by April, of about 13,000 planned. Qianfan had launched 200 by June, 185 of them working, against a target of 15,000 by 2030 that one analyst politely calls unlikely.

European Union

IRIS² now has a budget above €15.6 billion and a plan for 348 satellites, with first services from 2029. The entire European constellation, when finished, will be about three percent of the Starlink fleet already overhead.

United Kingdom

London holds 10.89 percent of Eutelsat, the owner of OneWeb, after putting in about €163 million last year. It has reportedly lost more than £340 million on its earlier OneWeb investment. Britain owns a share of a sky, at a discount.

Canada

Telesat’s Lightspeed will have 156 satellites, cut from 198, helped by a federal loan of C$2.14 billion. As of the latest reports, the first were due around December this year.

India

Starlink holds a five-year licence, granted in July 2025, and is still not allowed to sell. In September a government commission approved the regulator’s price for satellite spectrum: 4 percent of revenue plus Rs 500 per urban subscriber a year. Cabinet approval is pending. The satellites are ready; the paperwork is in low orbit.

Australia

Telstra, using Starlink, is the only carrier offering satellite-to-phone service, for texts and some apps but no calls, to 2.9 million customers. A proposed law would require outdoor voice and text coverage across about 5 million square kilometres from December 2027.

Verdict

One company has eleven thousand satellites aloft. One state has two plans and a few hundred. A continent has a budget and a date. India has a licence and is waiting for a price. Everyone else is renting. Once the land was divided by those who arrived with flags; now it is the sky, by those who arrive with rockets.