Starlink has reached a milestone deal with Veon, a prominent internet company, for the direct-to-cell service. The cooperation comes amidst growingly intense market competition to bring satellite to mobile connectivity to more users.
The deal gives Starlink access to over 150 million potential customers.
Direct-to-cell technology allows smartphones to connect to satellite networks in space that beam telephone signals back to Earth. With this deal, Veon will incorporate Starlink’s satellite communication service into its own network. The service will launch in Kazakhstan with Beeline and then in Ukraine with Kyivstar. The company operates services in other Asian nations, including Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Also: Which airline companies use Starlink in-flight internet?
Timeline
Kyivstar is set to launch the service in Q4 of 2025, and Beeline could start its own in 2026. The deal with Kazakhstan was unveiled during its president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s recent visit to Washington.
“This is the biggest partnership in terms of addressable customer base in the world,” Ilya Polshakov, Kyivstar’s new business director, has said. “There will be more announced soon.”
Veon is also planning to sign up with other satellite service providers such as Amazon, AST SpaceMobile, and EutelSat OneWeb. It’s because the deal with Starlink is non-exclusive so it allows the company to cooperate with other firms for the same service.
“These plans with other players will be in 2027, 2028. I don’t want to wait. I want to develop business today,” Polshakov said.
As of now, Starlink has over 7 million users, and to put into perspective, it has started service in many Asian countries, and some of them include those where Veon also operates. There are over 8,800 satellites of Starlink (As of writing this article), and 650 of those are committed to direct-to-cell services.