One NZ CEO Jason Paris (right) with One NZ engineers testing their Direct to Call partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink. Photo / Dean Purcell
One NZ CEO Jason Paris (right) with One NZ engineers testing their Direct to Call partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink. Photo / Dean Purcell
UPDATE: One NZ’s Satellite TXT service, running over Elon Musk’s Starlink, will now work with an iPhone 14 or later.
The move appears to confirm rumours that Apple’s iOS 18.3 upgrade, released early this week, would add Starlink compatibility for owners of recent iPhones - at least if they’re a customer of one of the telcos - including One NZ, T-Mobile in the US and Optus in Australia - that is in the first wave of partners for the new satellite-to-mobile service. Each has a one-year jump on the pack, or more, in its home country.
Satellite TXT - which uses Musk’s satellites to cover mobile blackspots on land and up to 22km out to sea - launched in NZ, in a world-first, shortly before Christmas.
Earlier this month, handset support was widened to include Samsung’s Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra phones, plus the newly-announced Galaxy S25 series (see the full list of compatible phones here. It’s expected to expand as the year goes on).
“Customer feedback has been really positive so far. More than half of all customers currently eligible have already accessed One NZ Satellite since launch, sending and receiving thousands of text messages in previous mobile blackspots,” One NZ experience and commercial director Joe Goddard said on January 24.
Sending and receiving a text took up to 10 minutes but was usually possible in under three, Goddard said.
“Satellite TXT will continue to improve over the coming months as more satellites are added, with the average time it takes to send and receive text messages already reducing since launch and expected to eventually reduce to a minute on average.”
Voice and data support will be added later this year, One NZ says.
The 'celltower in the sky' service eliminates mobile blackspots - as long as you have line-of-sight to the sky.
One NZ launches its Starlink Direct to Mobile service today – with a couple of initial limitations
Dec 19: One NZ is launching its Starlink Direct to Mobile service today – at no extra cost for those on eligible plans, but with a couple of initial limitations.
There’s no support for Apple’s iPhone or many of Samsung’s phones (though the S24 Ultra, Fold6 and Flip6 are in the launch lineup, while other models are being tested) and users will spend up to 10 minutes foot-tapping before messages are sent and received – though usually it will take less than a third of that time, the telco says.
The service takes advantage of around 300 low-Earth orbiting Starlink satellites that can act as “cell towers in the sky”, allowing a stock-standard smartphone to send a text message from anywhere in New Zealand – or up to 12 nautical miles (22.2km) out to sea at NZ’s territorial limit.
The telco says it will initially take up to 10 minutes to send a text via Starlink’s Direct to Mobile (or One NZ Satellite TXT, as the telco is branding it).
The wait is for another mobile-capable Starlink satellite to appear over the horizon. But it says most messages should be sent and received within three minutes.
In North America, Apple recently expanded its satellite service to cover everyday messaging, too. The firm has yet to offer a timeline for expanding the upgrade beyond North America.
In November last year, Apple said in a market filing that it had invested a further US$1.5b in Globalstar. Apple earlier spent US$450m Advanced Manufacturing Fund to create infrastructure for its satellite texting service with “a majority of the funding” going to Globalstar. The fresh funding was earmarked for new satellites and ground stations, with the capital injection also seeing Apple take a 20% stake in Globalstar .
In 2022 Globalstar contractor MDA Space awarded Rocket Lab a $143m subcontract for the design and manufacture of satellite systems that are scheduled to be launched for Globalstar later this year. At the time it was signed, the Globalstar contract was Rocket Lab’s largest single deal.
One NZ chief executive Jason Paris said Cyclone Gabrielle was one of the reasons his company went looking for new technologies – and that the new satellite service will be available for emergency texting (and later calling) for customers on any network.
However, One NZ emphasises it “provides an additional layer of protection for New Zealand’s traditional communication networks, and is not a replacement for existing emergency tools”.
Exclusive – for a spell
One NZ is one of several telcos around the world which have paid Starlink to be their exclusive launch partner for direct-to-mobile in their country. Others include T-Mobile in the US and Optus in Australia.
Musk posted to social media platform X saying T-Mobile had a one-year exclusive deal.
Infratil-owned One NZ has declined to say how much it paid for exclusivity or for how long – but has indicated it has a right of renewal.
While it’s not changing anything extra for the service, the telco hopes it will lure customers from rivals, and encourage its pre-pay customers (who are ineligible) on to more expensive contract (or “Pay Monthly”) plans.
2degrees and Spark have thrown in their mobile satellite calling lot with Lynk – a putative Starlink rival.
The new service will take advantage of the six ground stations SpaceX has dotted around NZ at Puwera, Te Hana, Clevedon, Hinds, Cromwell and Awarua.
While successful testing has taken place, there’s no timeframe for the launch of an NZ Lynk service at this point.
Lynk only launched five satellites, with a licence for a further five, a spokesman for the US firm told the Herald last month. Starlink has around 6000 satellites in orbit, even if only around 300 (and counting) are its larger second-generation model capable of supporting Direct to Mobile.
On November 13, the Commerce Commission filed Fair Trading Act charges against One NZ over its April-July 2023 initial marketing campaign for its pending Starlink partnership, which used a “100% Mobile Coverage” tagline.
The watchdog claimed the telco was not upfront enough about the initial service being text-only, with a delay, and requiring a line of sight to the sky. One NZ said it would “vigorously defend” the charges.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
