I’ve been playing banjo since I was 15 (yes, I said banjo). I played all through college, including at local “establishments” where my major fee was how many libations I could get. Then life did what life does: career, family, mortgages, businesses. Unfortunately, the banjo largely went in the closet and mostly stayed there. I picked it up from time to time, but never in earnest.
After the Table Rock Lake reunion I wrote about earlier this year, I picked it back up and realized I had let my hobby die. Last week I finally did something I’d been talking myself out of for a while. I went to banjo camp (cue the Deliverance music). Ironically, it turned out to be one of the more useful lessons I’ve had about this industry in some time.
That week gave me an unexpected perspective on Starlink, rural broadband competition, and the assumptions traditional telecom operators make about their competitors. It also reinforced an important question for rural broadband providers: What happens when another company already owns the customer relationship in the communities you serve?
Down the County Roads: A Different Kind of Community
I’d just wrapped up a client workshop in another part of Texas, so I pointed the car east and spent the afternoon on two-lane roads until I hit East Texas. Then I hit county roads (several of them). Then a wooden gate.
Camp was a working farm, complete with cows, cats, dogs, a big red horse barn, and a shop full of about 60 “pickers and grinners”.
My only way to describe the group was “bimodal.” There were a handful of high school kids on one side, and a lot of gray hair on the other. (It turns out getting several days off work is easier when you’re 16 or retired.)
The kids were the humbling part. They’d pick up a guitar, put it down for a fiddle, then move to a stand-up bass, then a banjo, playing every one of them somewhere between competent and exceptional. One young banjo player was faster and cleaner than anyone I’ve heard in person. That young man is going somewhere.
The Jam Session: When Your Self-Image Meets Reality
I got in late the first night, and there was a jam going. So I jumped in. It did not go well. I could barely follow. I couldn’t stay in rhythm. In my head, I was still the college version of myself who played in front of people and enjoyed it. My hands had clearly not been informed.
The gap between who I thought I was and who I’d actually become was wide, and it was obvious to everyone in the circle, including me. So I reset.
Success was no longer “be great.” It was “get on stage at the student concert at the end of the week.” I picked a tune I could fake my way through even if nerves kicked in, and I played it. Ultimately, it was a wonderful time and I’m glad I did it. Hold onto that jam session. We’ll come back to it.
The Guy With the Dish on the Roof: Starlink in Rural America
The camp’s founder is a former Nashville touring musician who started a website and YouTube channel years ago to teach banjo, guitar, mandolin, and just about everything you can think of (sadly, the jaw harp lessons aren’t yet available). He has built an impressive business with a full brand and following, a retail store, and an event business.
One afternoon, he walked us through his production workflow. He records in his studio, creates separate audio and video files, and shuttles everything back and forth with his editing team, who are located in different parts of the country.
Being the telecom geek in the room, I asked the obvious question: Who’s your provider? Starlink. There’s no fiber to his place. Given the volume of files he moves, his monthly bill runs to an amount that would make most of us check the invoice twice. I frankly had never heard of a residential bill at that level. Even most business locations don’t pay that much. The local provider is building fiber nearby. His sister down the road is getting it. He isn’t, at least not yet.
His attitude about Starlink wasn’t enthusiastic or resentful. It was utilitarian: It’s what we’ve got, so it’s what we use. If something better shows up, he’ll take it. I’ve written a lot about Starlink, and here was another example of its use in rural America.
For rural broadband providers, this is an important distinction. Starlink isn’t necessarily winning customers because they have rejected traditional broadband. In this case, it’s serving a customer whose property doesn’t yet have access to fiber. The availability of a reliable connection, rather than brand preference, is driving the decision.
Starlink Mobile: What Telecom Operators Are Saying
SpaceX’s plans for Starlink Mobile are another reason traditional telecom operators should pay attention to the changing competitive landscape.
This week, SpaceX said Starlink Mobile is on a path to become a major US carrier, with its next-generation direct-to-device service scheduled to turn on in early 2028. Two days later, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is negotiating for at least 80,000 US cell sites. That’s roughly half of the country’s purpose-built towers.
Sandwiched in between, AT&T’s CEO was asked about it on his own earnings call. His answer, paraphrased, was that building a network at scale takes years, and if you want a reference on that, ask Charlie (i.e., Echostar). He also said he wouldn’t “over-rotate” on one carrier of low-band spectrum and pointed out that the vast majority of mobile traffic happens where AT&T has already built.
I don’t disagree with any of that. Building networks is brutally hard, and Charlie Ergen would be the first to tell you so. That said, I’ve been proven wrong so many times over the years when I was “sure” of something that it made me wonder whether, as an industry, we have a level of hubris about Starlink’s prospects in mobile.
Where Telecom Operators May Be Underestimating Starlink
In my view, the risk isn’t that AT&T is wrong about how hard it is to build a nationwide network. In fact, I think they’re absolutely right. I think the challenge is in assuming SpaceX needs to build one or build one as extensively as has been suggested.
Look at what SpaceX doesn’t have to do for Starlink to be successful:
- Build towers from the ground up. First of all, it’s leasing them. Secondly, it’s satellite. By definition, it doesn’t have to provide the same coverage in the same places as a terrestrial network (I realize density and capacity are a different question).
- Acquire customers from scratch. It already has more than 12 million Starlink broadband subscribers and over 20 million monthly direct-to-device users today.
- Find the money. It’s sitting on a cash position no new entrant in US wireless has ever had.
- Get onto the roof. It’s already there. Back in August, Musk described deploying large numbers of small stations that are essentially Starlink dishes also broadcasting in mobile bands. We all have our skepticism about this given the experience of others in the past, but this is now, and Starlink has shown an ability to do some excellent consumer electronics engineering.
Ultimately, all of this means the dish on my banjo instructor’s roof isn’t just his broadband connection. In SpaceX’s design, it’s potentially a cell site for his farm.
This is where Starlink’s approach could challenge traditional telecom network economics. SpaceX doesn’t necessarily need to replicate every aspect of a terrestrial wireless network to compete for customers. Its existing satellite infrastructure, customer base, financial resources, and potential use of leased cell sites give it a different starting point from a conventional wireless entrant.
Why Rural Broadband and the Edge of the Network Matter
The traffic that happens outside the big carriers’ strongholds is a small share of the volume. However, it’s an enormous share of the geography. It’s where terrestrial networks are thinnest, and where Starlink is already the default provider for a lot of households.
Starlink doesn’t need to win Dallas. It needs to be the best option in the places where it’s already the only one. Which brings me back to the jam session. Every incumbent carries a self-image built over decades of being the network. It’s easy to measure yourself by who you were. That’s not a criticism unique to AT&T. It applies to every operator in this industry, including the rural ones.
For rural broadband providers, the competitive challenge isn’t necessarily about matching the reach or capacity of a national wireless carrier. It’s about understanding where customers have alternatives, where they don’t, and how those relationships could change as satellite and terrestrial networks continue to evolve.
The Bottom Line
Starlink doesn’t have to beat the incumbents where they’re strong. It has to show up where they’re thin with something good enough, plus a relationship it already owns.
To be successful, we have to question our own assumptions and ensure we don’t fall into a complacency about our competition’s prospects and let our old identity drive our thinking. We have to define what success looks like in this context and readjust. So here’s my question for you: Who owns the customer relationship at the very end of your network? Are you sure?
And a Final Word: Why I Do This
Banjo camp was ironically a reminder of why I support rural providers.
You hear a lot of bluegrass at banjo camp, whether you’re a fan or not. It’s music that has carried across rural America for generations. That week was full of it, along with prayer, fellowship, neighbors helping neighbors, and a pace of life that doesn’t apologize for itself.
Strip away the facade we wear in urban settings, and you’re reminded what it’s like to be around real people. I get that every day in this work. My clients are real people, good people, serving communities that matter. Helping them is the best part of what I do, and I’m grateful for it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Starlink and Rural Broadband Competition
1. How Could Starlink Change Rural Broadband Competition?
Starlink could increase competition in rural broadband markets by providing satellite internet access in areas where traditional terrestrial networks, including fiber, are unavailable or limited. Its existing customer base and satellite infrastructure also give it a different starting point from conventional telecom operators. As Starlink expands its mobile services, its potential role in the broader telecommunications market could grow.
2. What Is Starlink Mobile and How Does Direct-to-Device Connectivity Work?
Starlink Mobile is SpaceX’s planned mobile service, designed to use satellite technology and terrestrial wireless infrastructure to provide connectivity directly to mobile devices. Direct-to-device technology allows compatible phones to connect to satellites without requiring a traditional cell tower connection at that moment. SpaceX plans to expand this capability with its next-generation Starlink Mobile V2 satellites.
3. What Does Starlink’s Expansion Mean for Rural Broadband Providers?
Starlink’s expansion creates both competition and an opportunity for rural broadband providers to reassess their market position. Satellite connectivity can serve customers in areas where building terrestrial infrastructure is difficult or expensive. For traditional providers, the challenge is understanding where their networks remain competitive, where customers have alternatives, and who owns the customer relationship at the edge of their networks.