Executive Summary
The year closed with the satellite industry publishing its own report card. On December 31 SpaceX released its third annual Starlink Progress Report, a 75-page account of a breakout year: a completed first-generation direct-to-cell constellation of more than 650 satellites, service in 22 countries across 6 continents, more than 6 million customers, and 27 mobile operator partnerships worldwide. Days earlier, coverage of the FCC's year-end space policy review detailed the mechanics behind the agency's move to higher direct-to-cell power levels, including revisions to the legacy power flux density limits written for a different satellite era. With the FCC's Upper C-band auction rulemaking heading toward a January 5 comment deadline, the quiet holiday week was really a starting line for 2026.
3
Stories analyzed
650+
Starlink D2C satellites
22
D2C countries live
27
Starlink MNO partners
Jan 5
Upper C-band comments due
Starlink's 2025 Progress Report: direct-to-cell constellation complete, 27 carrier partners live
Starlink · December 31, 2025
What Happened
On December 31 SpaceX published its third annual Starlink Progress Report, a 75-page review of 2025. The company reported completing deployment of its first-generation direct-to-cell constellation, more than 650 satellites launched in about 18 months, with direct-to-cell service live in 22 countries across 6 continents, more than 6 million monthly direct-to-cell users, and 27 mobile network operator partnerships, alongside record growth and faster speeds across the broader Starlink broadband business.
Atomic Take
Twenty-seven carrier partnerships is the number that should focus minds. Starlink has effectively become the wholesale satellite layer for a meaningful slice of the world's mobile industry, and every carrier that signed is teaching customers that coverage can come from somewhere other than towers. The strategic risk for operators is commoditization from above; the opportunity for smaller players is that satellite fallback is now something you can buy rather than build.
FCC's year-end space review rewrites legacy power limits holding back direct-to-cell
SatNews · December 28, 2025
What Happened
Detailed coverage published December 28 laid out the mechanics of the FCC's year-end space policy modernization: revisions to equivalent power flux density limits, legacy rules designed decades ago to protect geostationary systems from low Earth orbit interference, that in practice constrained how much signal direct-to-cell satellites could deliver to phones. The review came alongside Space Bureau statistics showing 3,418 applications processed in 2025, up 21 percent year over year.
Atomic Take
EPFD reform is the kind of acronym-heavy change that never makes headlines and quietly determines what products can exist. The old limits were written for a satellite industry that no longer exists, and relaxing them converts direct-to-cell from a whisper into a usable signal. Watch which operators file first under the new frameworks, because the ones with hardware in orbit today capture the benefit immediately.
Upper C-band auction rulemaking heads toward its January 5 comment deadline
FCC · November 21, 2025
What Happened
As the year closed, the comment clock ran on the FCC's Upper C-band Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, adopted November 21, which proposes to repurpose at least 100 and as much as 180 megahertz of the 3.98 to 4.2 GHz band for commercial wireless service. Comments were due January 5 and replies February 3, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act requiring the Commission to auction the spectrum by July 4, 2027. The proposal reuses the Lower C-band transition framework, including incentive payments for accelerated clearing over roughly five and a half years.
Atomic Take
This is the biggest terrestrial spectrum opportunity on the 2026 calendar, and the statutory auction deadline means it moves fast by FCC standards. Whoever wins Upper C-band licenses gets mid-band capacity adjacent to spectrum already deployed in every 5G radio, which makes it cheap to activate. Expect the carriers to fight over auction rules all year, and expect capacity economics, including what hosts can offer MVNOs, to improve wherever this spectrum lands.
Atomic Signal
In one December, direct-to-cell got its first commercial license class, higher power ceilings, and a completed constellation. Regulators and operators spent the quietest month of the year building the loudest story of the next one.
Atomic Signal posts are pattern-level observations that connect stories across weeks. They appear only when a real trend has formed.
View all Atomic Signal postsTrends We're Watching
- 1.Satellite operators now publish carrier-grade annual reports. Starlink's progress report reads like an operator's investor letter, because that is what it is becoming: a network business with subscribers, partners, and coverage maps.
- 2.The regulatory groundwork for 2026 was laid in December's fine print. Power limit revisions and spectrum comment deadlines set this quiet week will shape what launches next year.
- 3.Mid-band spectrum is back on the auction calendar. The Upper C-band proceeding, with its statutory 2027 auction deadline, is the biggest terrestrial spectrum event on the horizon.
Closing Outlook
Starlink's numbers end the year as the benchmark everyone else in direct-to-cell is measured against: a completed constellation and 27 carrier partners is a network effect in orbit. The question for 2026 is whether the ecosystem consolidates around Starlink as wholesale infrastructure or fragments across AST, Amazon Leo, and carrier-specific deals. On the ground, mark January 5: Upper C-band comments will kick off the year's defining terrestrial spectrum fight, with as much as 180 megahertz of prime mid-band heading to auction under a statutory clock.
About Atomic Intelligence: Atomic Intelligence is based on publicly available announcements and reporting. Research and drafting are assisted by AI and reviewed by the Atomic Mobile team. Analysis and commentary reflect Atomic Mobile's interpretation of the verified facts available at the time of publication and do not constitute investment, legal, or regulatory advice.