The Federal Communications Commission has approved a narrow but revealing experiment: Lynk Global will test satellite direct-to-device links using Anterix’s licensed 900 MHz broadband spectrum, a band built around private wireless networks for utilities and other critical-infrastructure operators.
On paper, that sounds technical. In practice, it points at a larger question now sitting in front of the satellite and wireless industries: whether spectrum licensed for terrestrial private networks can, in some cases, be extended upward through satellites without forcing the devices on the ground to change radio systems.
That is why the Lynk-Anterix test matters. It is not the same as a nationwide commercial launch. It is not a new consumer phone service. It is an experimental license. But it puts a real regulatory marker around a model that many infrastructure operators care about: using space as a coverage layer for assets that are too remote, too scattered or too expensive to reach with towers alone.
What the FCC approved
Lynk and Anterix announced on May 18, 2026, that the FCC had approved an experimental license to explore the use of Lynk’s satellite direct-to-device network in Anterix’s licensed 900 MHz broadband spectrum.
The companies said the testing will involve representative communications devices, including land mobile radios, smartphones, computers, advanced routers and edge devices. The goal is not to give consumers another roaming option on their phones. It is to test whether satellite connectivity can strengthen private wireless systems used by critical infrastructure.
Via Satellite reported that the collaboration is aimed at private direct-to-device networks for sectors such as electric and gas utilities, logistics companies, transportation providers, pipelines and military bases.
That distinction is important. The consumer version of satellite-to-phone is about dead zones, emergency texting and eventually broadband from space. The Anterix version is about whether a router, sensor, radio or field device attached to critical infrastructure can still communicate when the nearest terrestrial network is unavailable or uneconomic to build.
Why utilities are the first obvious market
Anterix sits in a specific corner of the wireless market. It holds licensed 900 MHz spectrum used for private broadband networks, and its business is heavily tied to utilities and critical infrastructure. Via Satellite described Anterix as the largest holder of licensed 900 MHz band spectrum in the contiguous United States, with utilities including Ameren, Oncor and Xcel Energy among companies that have deployed its technology.
That helps explain why this experiment starts with infrastructure rather than consumer phones. Utilities need reliable communications across territory that often makes little commercial sense for ordinary wireless carriers. A transmission line in rural Texas, a substation in the Dakotas or a field asset beyond the edge of a cell network still needs to send data when storms, wildfires or outages hit.
Terrestrial private LTE can solve part of that problem. It gives utilities more control than a public carrier network and lets them design systems around resilience rather than consumer traffic. But geography remains stubborn. Towers cost money. Rights of way are complicated. Remote assets are remote for a reason.
Satellite coverage changes the geometry. A satellite pass can cover a wide area without building a tower beside every asset. The open question is whether the link performance, device behavior and regulatory treatment are good enough to turn that geometry into a dependable service.
The broader 900 MHz backdrop
The Lynk-Anterix test is happening while the 900 MHz band is already under regulatory review. In January 2025, The Fast Mode reported that a coalition of utilities, trade associations and telecom players backed an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow the broadband portion of the band to grow from 3 MHz by 3 MHz to 5 MHz by 5 MHz.
That proposal was about terrestrial private broadband capacity, not satellites. But it sits in the same larger trend: utilities and other industrial operators want more secure, dedicated and resilient wireless capacity for systems that cannot depend entirely on public cellular networks.
The satellite test extends that question upward. If a private 900 MHz system can be paired with a low Earth orbit satellite network, then the industry gets a new way to think about coverage gaps. The spectrum does not stop being terrestrial spectrum, but the network architecture becomes harder to fit into the old terrestrial-versus-satellite boxes.
Lynk’s bigger direct-to-device strategy
Lynk’s work with Anterix is also part of a broader race to make ordinary devices connect through satellites. Lynk has positioned itself around satellite direct-to-standard-mobile-phone technology and says it has partnerships with more than 50 mobile network operators.
Separately, Lynk and Omnispace announced plans in October 2025 to merge, combining Lynk’s satellite platform with Omnispace’s S-band spectrum assets. The announcement said SES would become a major strategic shareholder after the merger and that the transaction was expected to close late in 2025 or early in 2026, subject to approvals and closing conditions.
That matters because direct-to-device is no longer one market. It is becoming several markets at once. There is consumer emergency messaging. There is mobile carrier supplemental coverage. There are government and defense applications. And there is the quieter, less glamorous but potentially valuable world of enterprise and utility connectivity.
The competitive picture
Lynk is not alone. SpaceX and T-Mobile are pursuing direct-to-cell service through Starlink. Apple and Globalstar continue to support emergency satellite messaging on iPhones. AST SpaceMobile has been pushing a more broadband-oriented satellite-to-phone model with major carrier partners.
AST recently cleared a major regulatory hurdle. Via Satellite reported in April 2026 that the FCC granted AST SpaceMobile commercial authorization to provide direct-to-device services using spectrum from partner mobile network operators, including approval for a 248-satellite constellation.
The Lynk-Anterix experiment sits beside those efforts, but it is not chasing the same first customer. Consumer direct-to-cell services are built around ordinary handsets and mass-market coverage gaps. The Anterix test is built around private infrastructure networks, where reliability, control and resilience may matter more than peak consumer throughput.
What to watch next
Three questions will decide whether the test becomes more than a regulatory curiosity.
First, link performance. Can representative 900 MHz devices close a useful satellite link often enough, and reliably enough, to matter for critical infrastructure? A utility does not need a glossy consumer experience, but it does need communications that work when they are most needed.
Second, interference and coordination. Terrestrial and satellite systems are regulated differently because they create different interference risks. The FCC’s experiment gives Lynk and Anterix a way to collect technical evidence. That evidence will matter if other spectrum holders ask for similar treatment.
Third, customer appetite. Utilities already have reasons to invest in private wireless networks. A satellite overlay has to prove that it adds resilience worth paying for, rather than becoming another complicated layer in an already complex grid-communications stack.
The test is small compared with the ambitions now surrounding direct-to-device satellite service. But that is what makes it interesting. It is not a moonshot consumer promise. It is a practical infrastructure experiment wrapped inside a spectrum question.
If it works, other sectors will notice. Railroads, pipelines, ports, water utilities, oil and gas operators, military installations and emergency-response networks all face versions of the same problem: too much territory, too many remote assets and too few economical towers. The FCC has not rewritten the airwaves yet. But with Lynk and Anterix, it has opened a narrow door to testing whether terrestrial private spectrum can reach farther by going through space.
