The FCC approved SpaceX to beam satellite phone service directly to everyday smartphones in February 2026, calling it a public safety win — access to 911 from remote dead zones where no cell tower reaches. That part is true. What's missing from the FCC's press release: the emergency call system on the other end of that 911 call doesn't know where the caller is.
The problem is dispatchable location: the precise street address a dispatcher needs to send help. When you call 911 from a cell phone today, the carrier uses device-based hybrid technology, known as DBH, which now handles roughly 80% of all wireless 911 calls in the United States, according to the FCC's own docket. DBH triangulates your position using cell towers and GPS. It works because your phone can see cell towers.
A satellite connection doesn't have that option. The signal goes from your phone to a satellite hundreds of kilometers up and back down. The FCC's framework for satellite-to-device 911 calls relies on z-axis location data — height above an mathematical reference point called WGS-84, the same standard used for airplane altitude. That is not a street address. That is not a dispatchable location.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, known as APCO, which represents 911 dispatch centers, told the FCC in January 2024 that the gap was already structural: "Few 9-1-1 emergency communications centers (ECCs) have the resources to even explore how to make use of HAE-based" height data. The centers need a street address to send responders. They do not have a workflow for converting orbital altitude readings into anything useful.
The FCC approved SpaceX's direct-to-cell service anyway. The commission's February 2026 order cited "access to 9-1-1 service from remote areas" as a public interest benefit. That framing treats the approval as the win. The infrastructure problem — how the 911 caller's location actually gets to a dispatcher — was left for later.
There was a previous attempt to build this infrastructure. NEAD LLC, a joint venture among major carriers to provide dispatchable location for satellite calls, ceased operation in February 2020. No successor system has been deployed.
The direct-to-device satellite market is not waiting. SpaceX's Starlink D2D fleet — trading as Starlink Mobile — is currently about 7% of its total constellation, according to Opensignal, and has promised 150 Mbps speeds by end of 2027. AST SpaceMobile, a competitor, plans 45 to 60 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026, targeting peak speeds of 120 Mbps per cell. T-Mobile and Starlink launched satellite 911 texting in July 2025, free for users with compatible devices — a genuine service for dead zones. The technology is ahead of the regulatory framework that would make it safe to use for actual emergencies.
D2D advocates argue that satellite 911 texting is better than no service at all, and that the location problem will be solved as the technology matures. That is a reasonable position. It is also an admission that the public safety case the FCC used to justify approval is not yet fully built.
APCO asked the FCC in November 2024 to require carriers to deploy dispatchable location solutions — solutions that actually give dispatchers a street address, not an altitude reading. The FCC has not acted. The direct-to-device industry is scaling fast. The 911 system is not keeping pace.
