Starlink Mobile is coming first to Hungary and Albania through 4iG Group, putting satellite apps and messaging on compatible LTE phones, with no Starlink dish required. The initial offering will focus on consumers first, with commercial services to follow soon.
4iG Chairman and CEO Gellért Jászai and SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell signed the agreements in Bastrop, Texas, on 2 September. 4iG will sell the service through its telecom businesses in Hungary and the Western Balkans, using the satellites to cover mountains, coastal waters and other gaps, and to keep customers reachable during emergencies and temporary outages. Hungary and Albania will join several other markets worldwide where first-generation Starlink Mobile is already available.
A future Starlink Mobile V2 layer, using SpaceX’s global 2 GHz rights, is targeted at 5G non-terrestrial connectivity in Hungary, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, and a separate Sovereign Solutions track is scheduled to launch next year alongside the consumer mobile product.
Apps and Messaging First
4iG, Hungary’s largest listed technology and infocommunications group, is aligning the deal with its telecom, space and defence businesses. Jászai framed it as a commercial satellite-to-mobile service plus sovereign capability in one model.
Today’s announcement underscores the importance of making connectivity ubiquitous for everyone. 4iG Group and SpaceX developed a first-of-its kind model that represents a commercial service with Starlink’s satellite-to-mobile technology and establishing the first Sovereign Solutions in Europe. We are proud to be leading this vision in Europe and setting a new global standard of what’s possible.
Shotwell tied the mobile rollout to V2 and to Hungary as an early Sovereign Solutions market.
4iG Group’s forward-leaning adoption of Starlink Mobile, including our next-gen V2 constellation technology, will deliver resilient direct-to-device connectivity to people across Hungary and the Western Balkans. V2 will enable high-speed broadband directly to mobile phones and harmonize the 2GHz spectrum we’ll use around the world. We’re thrilled to forge this relationship with 4iG Group, as it positions Hungary as an early adopter of Sovereign Solutions for Europe.
Starlink Mobile V2
First-generation Starlink Mobile connects ordinary LTE phones directly to Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit constellation for apps and messaging.
V2 is the next step, using SpaceX’s global 2 GHz priority rights for 5G non-terrestrial network capability and, in Shotwell’s words, high-speed broadband directly to mobile phones. 4iG says that V2 service will launch in Hungary, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, the same next-generation layer SpaceX has already described for Japan with NTT Docomo.
Sovereign Solutions Next Year
The second agreement is not a consumer mobile plan. Through Sovereign Solutions, 4iG Space and Defence Technologies and SpaceX will develop an integrated service with augmented satellite communications and end-to-end secured data communications, due to launch next year, offering broadband connectivity and secure sovereign network infrastructure at national level.
