In a move that could undermine carrier efforts at establishing differentiation with their own direct-to-device (D2D) satellite efforts, Apple made arguably the largest and most significant consumer OEM low earth orbit (LEO) deal to date with the $1.5bn expansion of its existing relationship with Globalstar in November 2024.

Moreover, the arrangement puts Apple in a clear leadership position among western OEMs for extended satellite services in both emergency and remote use cases.

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With 3GPP Rel. 17, the runners were off

The starting pistol for the wireless industry’s race to embrace D2D satellite connectivity was the inclusion of provisions for non-terrestrial networks in the completed 3GPP Rel. 17 specifications in Q3 2022.

While T-Mobile US and SpaceX may have gotten the D2D furor started for many with a splashy August 2022 announcement event featuring T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (the latter of whom doubles as a perpetual headline generator), that was also the last time one of the US carriers beat Apple to the post on anything related to D2D satellite capability.

Apple was next into the D2D satellite news cycle in September 2022 when the device heavyweight confirmed that the iPhone 14 would offer Emergency SOS via satellite, but importantly, the US tech giant was offering something functional – albeit exceedingly bare-bones – to iPhone 14 users by November 2022. Furthermore, despite Apple’s satellite capabilities not evolving to basic text capabilities until the release of iOS 18 in September 2024 – and even then only in the US – Apple remains out in front of carrier D2D offerings.

This isn’t to say the carrier efforts won’t come to fruition

After two years of work on the testing, development, and regulatory fronts, the US wireless carriers’ nascent D2D satellite capabilities should be available in the wild soon, too. For example, having launched over 200 D2D-capable satellites this year alone, the SpaceX constellation is now quite near its established threshold for offering commercial D2D service to T-Mobile customers.

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Serving as something of a timely case study: T-Mobile and SpaceX were able to do actual good while also garnering both goodwill and good press when the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted them special temporary authority (STA) last month to use SpaceX’s satellite D2D constellation to provide emergency alerts and basic texting in parts of North Carolina and Florida left otherwise unconnected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, respectively.

Verizon and AT&T are not resting on their laurels here either. Both aim to make good on similar D2D promises with mutual satellite partner AST SpaceMobile, which reported just last week that all five of its huge BlueBird satellites launched in September 2024 have successfully unfolded in orbit and can now begin operations. And for its part, Verizon has also recognised the need to diversify its ecosystem, revealing a partnership with startup Skylo in August 2024 to provide messaging to Android devices, initially for emergency SOS texting, but with more general SMS text messaging to come in 2025.

Apple is ensuring its satellite partner has the fuel to stay in the race

As carriers’ commercial D2D efforts clear red-tape and deployment hurdles, Apple hopes to keep its foot on the accelerator. Notably, its expanding investment comes shortly after Globalstar passed a regulatory hurdle of its own, as the FCC granted Globalstar a 15-year license extension to operate 26 replacement satellites for its HIBLEO-4 constellation in August 2024.

This is also a much-needed capital infusion to help keep Globalstar upright while the satellite company forges ahead with its expensive constellation work. Apple’s $1.1bn infrastructure prepayment will hit Globalstar’s coffers on a quarterly basis throughout the construction period. Furthermore, the $400m garnered for Apple’s new 20% equity stake will go toward reducing Globalstar’s debt burden.

There’s no word on whether any service upgrades could result from Globalstar’s refreshed constellation, but that’s also not the only mystery afoot.

While there remains the nebulous assurance that Apple will begin charging for D2D service, that particular can has already been kicked down the road once – a potential precursor of monetisation struggles to come.

The questions around revenue generation become even murkier with both carriers and OEMs in the competitive mix, particularly if the result is one group undercutting the other on price.