I am glad to be corrected by a reader who brought to my attention the work being done at SpaceMobile. Last November they launched a prototype satellite to demonstrate direct-to-cell telephony. The company plans to put a constellation of Bluebird satellites into orbit to allow unmodified phones and tablets to upload and download data and voice. No dates are mentioned for when the Bluebirds will be flying. The Texas-based company is directly competing with SpaceX its Texas and California-based rival.

Starlink isn’t providing anything yet, it has just begun testing, something both Lynk and AST Spacemobile did more than a year ago. Starlink is not pioneering, they are chasing from behind.

So far, Starlink has claimed a successful D2C text message. No standards based 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, or 5G. In stark contrast, AST Spacemobile has successfully demonstrated all of those standard, including broadband data transmission at 40Gbps — something Starlink’s V2 satellites will never be able to do.

It’s good for everyone that Starlink has decided to join the race to providing D2C service, but an article like this is completely devoid of context if it omits the pioneering work that AST Spacemobile has done, and more importantly, the lead it has in the race to provide voice, video and full broadband.