Spark says it will be first to offer Starlink for mobile roaming overseas

Starlink, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, operates a global network of low-Earth-orbit satellites which can be used for text, calls or data via a stock-standard smartphone. Photo / Getty Images

Buying a local sim card, or eSim, will soon no longer be the only way to use your phone overseas.

Spark says it’s set to become the fourth telco in the world – and the first in New Zealand – to offer global roaming via Starlink’s satellite-to-mobile service.

The telco says it’s in “advanced negotiations” with Japan’s KDDI for a reciprocal roaming agreement that should kick in before year’s end.

“We’re actively exploring opportunities to expand this capability to additional countries and telco providers,” Spark chief commercial officer Mark Beder tells the Herald.

The other two telcos in the first four are T-Mobile in the United States and Rogers in Canada.

As long as they’ve got a compatible phone (which is most recent models), Spark customers visiting Japan, and KDDI customers visiting NZ, will be able to use Elon Musk’s satellite service for texts, plus calls and data via a series of “lite” versions of apps like WhatsApp and Google Maps available for Starlink satellite-to-mobile.

And they will roam at no cost if on an eligible plan. If your phone works with Starlink in NZ, it will work with Starlink in Japan, Spark says.

When a traveller with satellite service (KDDI’s customer) ventures out of terrestrial coverage in the visited country (New Zealand), they will automatically connect with Starlink Mobile’s satellites and see the hosting partner’s network banner name (Spark NZ SpaceX) appear in the top left corner of the phone.

Beder says Japan is already one of Spark’s biggest inbound roaming markets.

“Over the last 15 months, we’ve hosted more than 11,600 KDDI roamers, with monthly volumes topping 1000 during peak travel periods.”

A One NZ spokesman said, “Satellite roaming is something we’re exploring but there’s nothing to announce today.”

A FAQ on One NZ’s satellite page says its customers can only use its satellite-to-mobile service inside New Zealand.

It adds for visitors to NZ, “If your phone is on the eligible phone list and you’re connected with an eligible One NZ mobile plan, you should be able to connect to One NZ Satellite but we cannot guarantee all phones purchased overseas will work.”

In December 2024, One NZ became the first local telco to offer Starlink’s satellite-to-mobile service. Spark followed in April this year.

2degrees says it will launch with Starlink rival AST SpaceMobile later this year.

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.