Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations are on the rise, making broadband speeds available anywhere on the globe, beginning to disrupt broadband markets and changing the way we think about connectivity. This year, LEO Direct-to-Device (DTD) has matured from a concept to first commercial services.

DTD denotes the principle of connecting your everyday smartphone directly to satellites, without extra hardware in between. That’s a big deal for closing the last coverage gaps of our terrestrial networks and could make “always connected” finally mean everywhere. Players such as SpaceX’s Starlink, AST SpaceMobile and Skylo are already shaping DTD ecosystems.

The Starlink Question: From Partner to Competitor?

So far, Starlink has acted as a partner, working with mobile operators and using its licensed spectrum for DTD services. However, by acquiring EchoStar’s mobile assets (the AWS-4 and H-Block licenses in the United States, plus global Mobile Satellite Service [MSS] priority rights), SpaceX seems to have opened the door to taking on a broader role. Elon Musk even hinted at launching a mobile DTD service with indoor coverage within two years.

That development is causing industry concern. Is Starlink gearing up to become a mobile operator in its own right? Becoming a full MNO without a terrestrial network already in place would be a challenging and daunting endeavor. It would mean building terrestrial sites, deploying a mobile core, and handling billing, customer support and regulatory compliance across dozens of markets. That’s a heavy lift, even for Starlink.

Instead, this spectrum deal looks more like a strategic enabler than an all-out move into retail mobile. It gives Starlink more flexibility in its wholesale and partnership business. And realistically, it will take two to three years before we see any market impact, as both satellite constellations and handsets evolve.

Starlink’s spectrum move isn’t a declaration of war. Rather, it’s a signal. It tells us that the boundaries between satellite and terrestrial networks are dissolving, and the next chapter of connectivity will be written through collaboration, not competition.

The bigger story here isn’t about who “wins.” It’s about how everything connects. LEO DTD is becoming a key convergence layer in a world where fixed and mobile, terrestrial and satellite networks work together to keep users seamlessly connected. No single network type can cover it all, but together, they can, and partnerships are crucial to make that happen. The real opportunity lies in building converged user experiences rather than competing over who owns the access layer.

CableLabs Shapes the Connected Future

For CableLabs members, that’s an opportunity, and we’re deeply engaged in helping them understand and shape this new reality. We’re building the foundation for members to adopt, partner and innovate confidently in tomorrow’s world. Our experts are working on:

• Seamless connectivity frameworks that unify terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.
• Simulations and techno-economic models to analyze LEO DTD and broadband capacity, performance and cost structures.
• Integration architectures that show how DTD can fit into existing cores, backends and traffic steering systems.
• Regulatory engagement to ensure that our industry’s voice is heard in spectrum and interoperability discussions.
• General Seamless Connectivity Services (SCS) to provide a ubiquitous, reliable, adaptive connectivity fabric irrespective of access type

If you’re an operator or technology partner looking to make sense of how DTD fits into your roadmap, now is the time to connect with CableLabs experts. The earlier we align on architectures, interoperability and business models, the stronger the ecosystem we can build together.

To explore the broader topic of Seamless Connectivity Services, check out the recent blog post. If you’re a member, get involved in our working group or watch the recent Seamless Connectivity Services/Mobile Optionality webinar on the Member Portal (login is required).

Connectivity is experiencing a revolution. Low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband has moved with lightning speed from a futuristic concept to reality, and it’s rapidly becoming a cornerstone of modern connectivity.

SpaceX's Starlink, the leader and only commercially operational player in this field, besides OneWeb, already serves almost 5 million subscribers in 117 countries. The company has provided critical emergency infrastructure during recent hurricanes and wildfires.

This rise of LEO broadband shows no signs of slowing down: Starlink is further pushing the envelope on network capacity as it prepares to deploy its latest V3 satellites on the new, much larger Starship rocket. V3’s supposedly twentyfold increased capacity would even enable gigabit services once sufficiently deployed. Provided Starlink’s claims of “breakeven cash flow” stand investors’ scrutiny, the company will also have the funds to further expand its constellation and service offering. Competitors such as Amazon's Project Kuiper and China's burgeoning LEO programs are hot on Starlink’s heels, and in the coming years could provide robust alternatives.

But what does this satellite internet boom mean for the terrestrial broadband industry? There’s no doubt that satellite will bring both opportunities and challenges, forcing operators like CableLabs’ member companies to ask some hard questions.

A new addition to CableLabs’ strategy brief series on LEO discusses how to analyze the technology’s capacity and examines scenarios for Starlink’s ramp-up. It is available exclusively for CableLabs member operators here.

Below, we provide a high-level look at five considerations for terrestrial broadband operators to keep in mind and also pose five questions for them to consider as the satellite broadband industry moves forward.

Competitive Threat

Starlink’s growing capacity will drive further rising broadband subscriber numbers. So far, most Starlink customers have no terrestrial alternative, so the company’s offer effectively expands the broadband market to remote areas. But once Starship deploys V3 at scale, there would be enough capacity for Starlink to become a significant competitor for home broadband subscribers everywhere.

Question 1: Where is cable market share vulnerable to LEO providers, and how far?

We examine this further in the new members-only strategy brief.

Truly Seamless Converged Low-Latency Connectivity

Starlink already has nine global mobile network operator (MNO) partners beginning to complement its terrestrial coverage with satellite-based connectivity. In the mid-term, this broadened coverage will provide “direct-to-cell” service to any reasonably up-to-date phone anywhere, making dead zones a thing of the past and ubiquitous connectivity table stakes. At the same time, optical free space communication between satellites will enable a major leap in reducing latency.

Question 2: How can broadband operators with a converged network vision integrate LEO as a complementary layer to enhance their service offerings?

“Coopetitive” Ecosystem Building and Coordination

It seems obvious that (at most) a few global LEO connectivity providers will prevail, and any communications service provider (CSP) wanting to offer seamless connectivity will have to partner. Any LEO satellite will be serving on its orbit as a “cell tower in the sky” for many operators in quick succession, and LEO players will simultaneously be competing with CSP’s core service offering.

Question 3: What are the best ecosystem and competitive strategies with LEO players in the mid and long-term? How can we coordinate spectrum use and allocation across borders?

Transactional Connectivity and Capacity Trading

Highly automated transactional trading will become a key mechanism to ensure that the emerging multi-layered ecosystems provide users with the right connectivity option at any time, using, for example, automated roaming and dynamic spectrum allocation.

Question 4: How can networks and users negotiate connectivity and capacity transactions effectively?

Edge Computing

LEO satellite constellations will effectively function as a new edge location with high computing capacity that is only one millisecond-hop away from any point on the planet. Already now, compute capacity on satellites handles complex image processing tasks. Amazon Kuiper has announced to integrate their offer with their AWS footprint. CableLabs’ Next-Gen Systems team is exploring the possibilities of this “Cloud in the Sky.”

Question 5: What use cases will this new satellite edge enable? How can it interplay with the evolving terrestrial edge footprint?

How CableLabs Can Help

This exciting time demands proactive engagement to stay ahead of the curve and chart a successful course towards sustained differentiation.

CableLabs experts have insights, tools and research at the ready to help our members deepen their understanding of the LEO broadband landscape, assess market risks and competitive threats, and drive innovation. Whether you’re a strategist, an engineer, a product manager or just someone fascinated by the LEO possibilities, the message is clear: Pay attention, engage with the experts and be ready to adapt. LEO broadband isn’t just on the rise — it’s redefining the horizon.

For more in-depth analysis, check out the new members-only strategy brief about LEO and subscribe to the CableLabs blog to stay tuned for future updates.

The Open RAN ecosystem has continued to evolve over the past year, taking major steps forward and gaining more credence and industry acceptance. In case you’re not up to speed, here’s an at-a-glance view of some of these promising new developments.

Significant new investments are driving scale and innovation. 

• In September, Vodafone and Samsung kicked off a massive deployment of 2,500 disaggregated and virtualized cell sites, providing 4G and 5G services across the United Kingdom.
• In September, Ericsson announced it will introduce support for open fronthaul across its Cloud RAN and radio portfolios starting this year. In December, AT&T committed to large-scale Open RAN and selected Ericsson as its vendor. 
• The NTIA awarded the first grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund program for Open RAN technologies in 2023 and a recent round in early 2024 to academic institutions, DISH and Viavi.
• In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it will invest in private Open RAN 5G to leverage innovation in that ecosystem.

Maturing RIC and automation gear up for differentiating performance and efficiency.  

• Vodafone has been vocal about its Open RAN deployments, delivering performance as good as or better than that of the company’s traditional RAN sites.
• DISH reported record-low cost due to highly efficient operations and automation.
• Open RAN vendors such as Mavenir are marketing artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) solutions that make full use of the data exposed by open interfaces.
• At the Open RAN North America conference in December, multiple operators discussed the intricacies and maturity of their evolving RIC implementations.
• The U.S. government is propelling RIC advancements:  In March, the agency will host a RIC forum with live demonstrations of leading vendors’ RIC capabilities.

New OTICs and service offerings facilitate integration and adoption.

• Integrating various vendors’ gear to work together is one of the key challenges for Open RAN adoption. Open Testing and Integration Centers (OTICs) like the one at CableLabs’ subsidiary, Kyrio, facilitate this kind of cooperation, hosting multiple PlugFests to advance Open RAN features and performance. Several new OTICs have been added in 2023, most recently at MITRE in the U.S. and a group of companies in South Korea.
• Several operators and vendors, including Docomo and Ericsson, have announced new service offerings and pre-integrated configurations to ease Open RAN adoption.

Although there’s still a long way to go before Open RAN architectures become widely adopted, these advancements show that the technology is steadily evolving and here to stay.

If you’re planning to attend Mobile World Congress/MWC Barcelona this month, join us for the O-RAN ALLIANCE Summit. The summit is the first major gathering of this community in conjunction with an MWC event, further underscoring the industry’s continued interest in Open RAN.