Your next move · Carriers · MVNOs · Satellite
We're being asked for our satellite plan.
Carrier boards are asking for a satellite plan because a competitor announced one, and since 8 October 2026 because the satellite operator that supplies T-Mobile's coverage has agreed to buy a carrier's low band of its own. Underneath the plan sit three questions the announcement does not answer: what a satellite can deliver to an unmodified handset today, who owns the customer in each partnership model, and what the arrangement costs at renewal rather than at signing.
Your satellite partner is assembling a carrier's spectrum position.
65 MHz
mid band contracted from EchoStar, closing expected 30 Nov 2027
14 MHz
paired 800 MHz contracted from Grain on 8 Oct 2026, subject to FCC consent
4 Dec 2026
satellite applications for the 800 MHz band due at the FCC
30 Nov 2029
first performance test: 5 dB and 70% availability over 90% of each area
Filed · EchoStar Forms 8-K · FCC DA 26-471, DA 26-653 and DA 26-1078 · Grain Management release of 8 Oct 2026 · read 2026-10-12 · EchoStar 8-K, 8 Sep 2025 · FCC DA 26-653 · FCC DA 26-1078 · Grain release
What we would look at
- What a satellite link can realistically deliver to an unmodified handset today, versus the roadmap
- Who owns the customer relationship, the SIM and the data in each partnership model
- What the economics look like at renewal, not at signing, which is where the leverage moves
- Which spectrum and regulatory dependencies sit under the promise, now that SpaceX has contracted for 65 MHz of mid band and up to 14 MHz of low band of its own
- The go/no-go criteria, written down before the term sheet arrives
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Tools & analysis
The work we would bring to an engagement, free to use now.
Take this with you
- Partnership decision record XLSX · 26 KB
- Board briefing deck PPTX · 101 KB
- The full series as one report PDF · 1.5 MB
- Direct-to-device ebook PDF · 3.0 MB
- Non-terrestrial ebook PDF · 2.5 MB
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Who does the work
Each engagement is led by a senior practitioner who knows the networks, markets or systems in question, and whoever scopes the work stays on it to the end.
How an engagement runs
The first step is a one-day teardown. Each step stands on its own, has a fixed fee agreed before it starts, and you decide whether the next one is worth doing.
Step 1
One-day teardown
A 90-minute working session on the decision in front of you, a written answer in two working days, and the model behind it, yours to keep.
Step 2
Two-week assessment
Two working sessions, a 12 to 18 page memo with the working shown so your team can check every number, and a one-page board summary.
Step 3
Project
Scoped to the engagement, with weekly checkpoints, until a first offering is in the market with your team running it. Every model and source is yours at the close.
Related work
Every figure on this page opens its source.
Start with a diagnosis
Tell us what you are trying to decide. We reply in writing within two working days, with how we would approach it, what it would take and what it would cost.