Can My Phone Call Through Satellite Yet?

These days, whenever somebody finds out what I do, I immediately get a question on D2D. So, is my iPhone going to be able to make a call using a satellite instead of a GSM tower? Are we going to ditch our traditional operators and only rely on Starlink—the only name widely known?

Not so fast. D2D truly is the talk of the year. But, like with many other buzzwords, there is much more noise than actual understanding of what this entails. Technology is developing fast. Ultra fast.

I still remember how, back in 2018 when I was at Thuraya, we launched the X5-Touch and called it the world’s first satellite smartphone. And it was one: a satellite phone in Android device form. I was running the sales for Europe and CIS in those days and watched customers pick it up with mixed feelings. Some saw it as a nice toy. Others saw a niche device for specific industries. What was really in it for me was the first real signal that satellite and terrestrial were not going to stay two separate worlds forever.

Fast forward into 2026 and a lot of progress has been made. Skylo and Space42 are successfully testing D2D SMS and SOS service on standard Android devices. Starlink is signing global partners for Starlink Mobile. Viasat and Space42 are building Equatys as the first ‘space tower company’. AST SpaceMobile is building a space-based cellular broadband network. And much more.

Back in 2018, with the launch of X5-Touch, the true disappointment came when the data-bandwidth capability was revealed. A smartphone that was not that smart in satellite mode. The real deal-breaker was the data speed.

Are we there yet today? Not exactly. D2D services are still limited to short messages and bytes of data. Have we made progress? Absolutely. And it is definitely a very exciting space to watch—pun intended.