With its significant rural population in areas poorly served by mobile or fixed networks, the USA has become a significant battleground for satellite broadband coverage. All three leading mobile operators have forged partnerships with different LEO (Low Earth Orbit) constellation providers, which are themselves competing for wholesale carriage business. The platform operators are also contending with their own direct to device services in some cases. Device makers constitute a third party. Apple made the early running a year ago in November 2022 when it invested $450 million in several US companies, mostly Globalstar, enabling iPhone users to send emergency text messages through the latter’s satellite network, at this stage free of extra charges. Soon afterwards, various Android smartphone makers including…