What SpaceX has proposed

Starlink already sells home and business internet, and it provides satellite texting to T-Mobile customers. To work as a full mobile carrier, SpaceX would need far more capacity than satellites alone provide. One analyst cited by Axios estimated a traditional tower network would cost more than $100 billion to build.

SpaceX's alternative is to install small cellular base stations alongside Starlink dishes on homes and businesses, using the satellite link to carry the traffic. Elon Musk has said these could give phones more bandwidth than current carriers offer.

What Stankey said

• Cost: he told Axios it would cost as much to build that network as to build a conventional tower network.
• Permission: he said cell signals can't be broadcast from someone's home without the owner's permission unless the law changes.
• Fiber: AT&T announced a fiber supply deal with Corning worth more than $3 billion the same day, and Stankey said satellite won't beat fiber even if everything goes right over the next 10 years.

AT&T isn't a neutral voice here. It works with AST SpaceMobile, a SpaceX competitor, on satellite service, and SpaceX is pitching itself as a direct rival to AT&T.

What it means for phone plans

Nothing changes for now. SpaceX doesn't sell a phone plan of its own, and it hasn't said when it might. Starlink's direct-to-cell service reaches U.S. phones through T-Mobile's T-Satellite, which is included with Experience Beyond or costs $10/mo on other plans. Separately, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have just formed a joint venture to cover dead zones with satellite service.