On the way to Mars, telco is in the way

After Musk purchased $17 billion in spectrum a few weeks ago, everyone was wondering why he did it and what his ultimate goal is. My take: he didn’t buy it to compete with telcos. He bought it to solve a piece of his 100-year problem: connectivity on Mars, a planet where cell towers are impossible. But his Earth testing ground sets the stage for something far more dangerous: proof that terrestrial networks are optional. While he’s rehearsing for Mars, he’s rewriting the rules here.

Funding your own funeral

Every mobile bill paid to Starlink doesn’t just provide connectivity on Earth—it fuels Starship, the rocket Musk says will take humans to Mars. Telcos aren’t just facing a rival carrier; they’re helping bankroll Musk’s ultimate mission off-world. In Elon’s playbook, your customers’ money becomes his rocket fuel.

He’s done this before. Remember the Tesla Roadster? It wasn’t designed to change the world; it was designed to fund the cars that would. That flashy, expensive model bankrolled the Model S and Model 3. The spectrum buy is the same move: a near-term business underwriting a far bigger ambition. Every monthly payment to Starlink by a telco customer is another dollar toward making terrestrial networks obsolete.

The official story

Musk’s own explanation is straightforward: direct-to-cell service, with Starlink satellites talking straight to your phone, no towers required. No dead zones. No excuses. That alone should worry telcos. Coverage maps—the industry’s favorite bragging rights—matter less when one constellation can deliver service almost anywhere.

With 9,000+ satellites already in orbit, AWS-4 and H-Block spectrum rights in the US, and a starter customer base from Boost Mobile plus millions of Starlink subscribers, Musk is shifting from partner to competitor. Today he works through T-Mobile, Rogers, and KDDI; tomorrow, he may rely on them far less. He has enough of the pieces to begin building a connectivity business that doesn’t depend on telcos. If he owns the connection and the billing, telcos don’t just lose coverage bragging rights—they risk losing the customer relationship itself. Without that, what’s left? 

Pipes.

Of course we all know spectrum is local. Owning AWS-4 and H-Block doesn’t grant Musk global reach. Regulators everywhere still control the keys. But this US beachhead lets him prove the model and push for expansion. That’s how he works: start with a foothold, scale fast, and pressure the rest of the world to follow.

This is about Mars

Earth isn’t the destination. Mars is. Towers on the Red Planet don’t make sense: dust storms bury equipment, radiation degrades electronics, temperature swings wreck hardware, and early settlements will be too small and scattered to justify terrestrial networks. Musk is building for these extremes, which makes Earth’s communication challenges look trivial by comparison.

A satellite-first, direct-to-device model is the only communications system that fits. By perfecting it here, Musk is building the blueprint for humanity’s first off-world colony. Earth’s telcos become the proving ground—the first industry to feel the impact of an interplanetary model.

And this isn’t just a US story. In Africa, South America, and parts of Asia—where terrestrial buildouts lag—Starlink’s model can leapfrog traditional infrastructure, much as mobile leapfrogged landlines two decades ago. For operators in developing markets, the exposure is even higher. History shows that when a superior technology bypasses existing infrastructure, it doesn’t just compete. It replaces.

The speed gap

Musk’s true superpower—and the part telcos underestimate—is execution speed. While traditional operators are debating how to do responsible AI, he has poured over $30 billion into xAI in just 18 months—building his own large language models (LLMs), his own supercomputers, his own AI stack. Musk can deploy thousands of satellites in the time it takes a carrier to shortlist vendors in a BSS RFP. His organizations iterate weekly; telcos move at standards-body pace. The speed gap is the real disruption: Musk doesn’t sleep; telcos practically brag how slow they move.

And Musk doesn’t just work faster—he works differently. He builds rockets, satellites, and even AI models in-house, pouring billions into vertical integration so he controls every lever of execution. Telcos, by contrast, outsource, consult, and debate.

What telcos must do

If telcos don’t respond, they risk becoming irrelevant. But there’s a clear playbook for defending your business and winning the market:

Control the device ecosystem. The biggest bottleneck to Musk’s plans is handset support. Starlink can’t scale until Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm embed those bands in mainstream devices. Telcos should use their leverage with OEMs to ensure satellite access flows through their services first.

Defend the enterprise fortress. Satellites will never beat terrestrial networks on ultra-low latency, service level agreements (SLAs), or edge compute. Enterprise is still telcos’ most profitable stronghold—double down here.

Use partnerships offensively. In rural and roaming, Starlink can actually strengthen your offer. Sell it wholesale, bundle it, and brand it under your name. Position Musk’s coverage as your value-add, not his Trojan horse.

Exploit the timing window. Musk himself admits it will take 24 months before phones support the new spectrum. That’s your runway: 24 months to modernize systems, move to cloud-native platforms, and close the speed gap. Don’t squander this timeline. Work with vendors like Totogi (where I’m acting CEO) that understand how to work at tech-company speed, not traditional-telco speed.

Play regulation smartly. Regulators still hold the keys outside the US. Don’t hide behind them, but use that time strategically. Lobby for parity, ensure compliance burdens apply equally, and prepare for the day those walls come down.

Don’t count on economics to save you. Yes, launching and replenishing thousands of satellites is expensive—but Musk doesn’t play by telco ROI rules. He’s willing to subsidize losses because this isn’t just about ARPU; it’s about Mars. Don’t wait for him to trip over the economics.

Modernize for real. Enough with endless “transformations” that take three years and deliver incremental improvements. You need systems that can launch new products in weeks, not quarters. Cloud-native, AI-powered platforms aren’t just nice-to-haves anymore. They’re survival tools. At Totogi, we’ve seen operators achieve SpaceX-level deployment speeds—launching new services in weeks instead of quarters with our BSS Magic platform. That’s the kind of speed differential you need to compete with someone who launches satellites faster than you approve roaming agreements.

The choice

Musk’s spectrum grab isn’t about one product. It’s about positioning to control the future of connectivity on Earth—while rehearsing for Mars. Telcos can hunker down and hope the threat passes, or reinvent themselves as agile, intelligent, and indispensable. At Totogi, that’s exactly what we’re building: the tools operators need to move like startups, not incumbents.

Because here’s what’s really happening: Musk isn’t trying to beat you. He’s solving a bigger problem—and proving you’re optional in the process. His disruption isn’t malicious; it’s indifferent. And that may be the most dangerous kind of disruption of all.

Recent Posts

Get my FREE insider newsletter, delivered every two weeks, with curated content to help telco execs across the globe move to the public cloud.