Who puts your phone in space

Satellite texting stopped being a demo this year. The question worth asking is not whether it works, but whose hardware is actually up there.

Three different answers are in the market. T-Mobile runs on Starlink, which has launched more than 650 direct-to-cell satellites. Apple's Emergency SOS runs on Globalstar, an older network Apple has put money into and holds roughly a fifth of.

The third answer is the odd one. AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone all signed with AST SpaceMobile - a company that has launched thirteen satellites. It says it has agreements with around 60 carriers covering more than three billion subscribers, which is a lot of people promised a network that is mostly not built yet.

That gap is the whole story. Signing carriers is cheap; launching satellites is not. AST's own target was roughly 45 to 60 in orbit, and getting there is a launch-cadence problem, not a sales problem.

What the picture does not show: none of these deals are exclusive forever, coverage today is texting rather than calls or video, and every figure here comes from the companies themselves or from FCC filings.