Article text
Jason Rainbow
3–4 minutes
TAMPA, Fla. — British mobile operator Virgin Media O2 said it started offering satellite-to-smartphone connectivity in the United Kingdom Feb. 26, marking the first commercial deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink Direct-to-Cell service in Europe.
The service is initially limited to subscribers using select Samsung Galaxy devices for an additional 3 British pounds ($4) per month, with plans to include it at no extra cost in a high-tier plan in the future.
Beyond messaging and voice, the satellite link supports a limited number of apps that include Google Maps, WhatsApp and Elon Musk’s X, similar to Starlink Direct-to-Cell rollouts in the United States and other countries.
Virgin Media O2, owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, said the space-enabled service expands its U.K. landmass coverage from 89% to 95%, adding an area roughly two-thirds the size of Wales.
The move follows regulatory approval earlier this month, allowing the mobile operator to modify its U.K. spectrum license to support satellite connectivity to standard smartphones.
British telecoms regulator Ofcom also finalized rules enabling direct-to-device services, establishing a framework for satellite operators to use terrestrial mobile spectrum with carrier partners to extend coverage beyond cell towers.
Similar to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s Supplemental Coverage from Space framework adopted in 2024, the U.K. rules allow satellite services to operate on a secondary basis, meaning they must avoid causing interference to primary terrestrial or Mobile Satellite Services users.
Starlink has announced partnerships with 11 cellular providers to date, offering reciprocal Direct-to-Cell access across participating markets:
- T-Mobile (United States)
- Optus and Telstra (Australia)
- Rogers (Canada)
- One NZ (New Zealand)
- KDDI (Japan)
- Salt (Switzerland)
- Entel (Chile and Peru)
- Kyivstar (Ukraine)
- Virgin Media O2 (U.K.)
- Airtel Africa (Nigeria)
Ah, I didn’t know this was another spiel at destroying net-neutrality with only a few allow-listed services like Shitter available. Thanks, but no thanks.
I wonder if it would be possible to create a cracked client for one the “approved” apps which could act as a sort of VPN for other traffic.
Voice calls are allowed, so maybe it’s time to revive the 56k modem!
But seriously, as a non-expert I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if you told me the audio stream was the easiest option, if the approved apps are all somewhat tamper-resistant. (Probably a very different process though, converting 20th Century analogue telephone line signals, versus converting just-decompressed digital audio.)
I remember reading about someone routing internet over XMPP, because the in-flight wifi would allow unlimited WhatsApp, but only checked for the ports or so which are the same for XMPP (because WhatsApp is a lightly modified XMPP under the hood).
