Satellite messaging on Japan’s three largest mobile networks now arrives bundled and unbilled, according to a detailed user account published on the Japanese platform note on 27 September 2026 — while in Argentina, the Buenos Aires Herald reported on 22 August 2026 that the same company was handed a roughly US$22 million rural-schools contract with no public bidding process at all.
Read together, the two reports are less about two countries than about two ways the price of a Starlink connection gets set: by carriers competing to give a feature away, or by a single negotiated agreement no outside party got to bid against.
Key facts
Japan — all figures below come from one user account on note and have not been independently verified by Starlink News:
- Satellite communication on compatible smartphones via Starlink Direct has been available in Japan for a year and a half as of September 2026, starting with au in April 2025, the account says.
- docomo and SoftBank began supporting it from April 2026, with no application or settings required, according to the same account.
- UQ mobile, povo and budget-carrier users must apply for the “au Starlink Direct Dedicated Plan +” at 1,650 yen a month, which the writer says can be discounted to 550 yen or to nothing depending on the plan.
Argentina — as reported by the Buenos Aires Herald:
- Argentina’s National Communications Agency, ENACOM, will have Starlink connect 6,000 rural schools for at least three years under a joint investment of about US$22 million announced in late July.
- Starlink supplies 6,000 connectivity kits including two years of priority service at an estimated US$10 million; the government contributes US$12 million for installation, technical support, network monitoring and the third year of service.
- There was no public bidding process and no published Starlink proposal, the Herald reports.
A note on sourcing
The Japanese half of this report rests on a single post by an individual subscriber on note, a Japanese self-publishing platform. It is a first-hand consumer account — the writer describes their own contract, their own SIM and their own iPhone settings — not a carrier announcement or a news report, and the author is not identified beyond their note handle. Starlink News has not been able to match the plan names, the 1,650 yen price point or the discount tiers against published material from KDDI, NTT Docomo or SoftBank, and readers should treat those specifics as one user’s description rather than confirmed carrier terms until checked on the operators’ own plan pages.
What is not in dispute is the broader shape of the story: KDDI’s au was publicly first to market with SpaceX’s direct-to-cell satellite messaging in Japan in April 2025, and direct-to-cell has since been launched by carriers in several other markets, including Beeline in Kazakhstan and Airtel in Uganda, as Starlink News has reported. The Argentine material, by contrast, comes from a named newspaper report quoting four identified industry figures on the record.
Why it matters: two ways a Starlink price gets set
In Japan, Starlink’s satellite messaging reaches the customer through mobile operators who are fighting each other for subscribers. The result described in the note account is that on au, docomo and SoftBank’s brands the feature is simply switched on and absorbed into the monthly bill — the writer is careful to say it is more accurate to call it “included in the phone bill” than free. The price is disciplined by competition: an operator that tried to charge separately for a feature its rivals give away would be advertising a reason to switch. The visible cost only appears at the edges of that competition, on povo and on MVNOs such as mineo or AEON Mobile, where subscribers must apply for a dedicated plan and, in some cases, pay the full 1,650 yen.
In Argentina, there was no such contest. The Herald reports that the real cost of the schools deal is not known with certainty precisely because there was neither a bidding process nor a public offer from Starlink — and that internet service providers in the country told the outlet the figures being discussed are well above market. Where the Japanese arrangement produces a price through rivalry between distributors, the Argentine one produces a number that outsiders can only estimate, paid partly out of a fund that Starlink’s own competitors help finance.
The contrast is not that one market is rich and the other poor. It is that Starlink’s terms are legible where a crowded set of intermediaries has to publish them, and opaque where the state buys direct. For governments elsewhere weighing satellite connectivity for schools and clinics, that is the transferable lesson in these two reports.
Japan: free on the big three, paid for everyone else
For au mobile customers, no application is needed and there is no charge, the note account says — the writer describes it as something that simply became available without users noticing. docomo customers, including those on ahamo, need no application or settings either. SoftBank’s sub-brands Y!mobile (Simple, Simple 2 and Simple 3) and LINEMO (LINEMO Best Plan and LINEMO Best Plan V) are covered without an application or additional charge on eligible plans, according to the same account.
UQ mobile subscribers on the Comi-Comi Plan Value or Tokutoku Plan 2 will mostly get it free once they apply, the writer says, while povo users pay the full 1,650 yen. Customers of MVNOs such as mineo or AEON Mobile pay the same 1,650 yen through the dedicated plan. The writer, who moved from mineo’s docomo-based plan to UQ mobile, suggests comparing rates first: switching to Y!mobile or LINEMO may be cheaper than adding the dedicated plan. Because these are contract terms that change without notice, they are worth confirming with the carrier before acting on them.
The writer’s own frustration is instructive about how a bundled feature can go unused: they argue that because UQ mobile customers have to apply themselves and set up an eSIM, there are probably quite a few people not using Starlink Direct even though it would cost them nothing.
What au has that the others do not
Because au moved first, the note account says it is ahead on service deployment, including SOS centres, international support, and high-speed data and voice calls scheduled to begin within 2027. Rakuten Mobile is the outlier: its satellite service uses AST SpaceMobile satellites rather than Starlink and is scheduled to begin around the end of 2026, aiming to work with ordinary smartphones that are not satellite-compatible. The writer calls that ambitious but suspects it will matter less as satellite-capable handsets spread.
Turning it on
On iPhone, the writer says, the switch is under Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Satellite, after which Starlink Direct works in areas outside normal coverage. Android has no such setting and appears to switch to satellite automatically when conditions are met — which, the writer points out, also means it cannot be turned off. Again, this is one subscriber’s experience on their own handset rather than documented carrier behaviour.
Argentina: 6,000 schools, no bidding process
The Herald reports that critics have focused on the absence of a public bidding process and the lack of public information about Starlink’s proposal, beyond the education ministry’s promise to name the schools involved. Standard procedure, the outlet explains, is a public tender in which technical and financial proposals are public and an evaluation committee weighs price, quality, track record and compliance.
Martin Becerra, a Conicet researcher and communications expert, told the Herald that Starlink Argentina sent a letter of intent on 15 July and the agreement was approved nine days later, with no technical evaluation and no consultation on which schools would be included. “For anyone familiar with the pace of the Argentine government, nine days is a nanosecond — it’s very unusual,” he said.
How much it may actually cost — and why the two estimates differ
Telecommunications analyst Enrique Carrier told the Herald the three-year costs “are not so linear,” with a discount in the first two years recouped in the third. His estimate is US$30 a month per school for the first two years, rising to US$166 — the Herald’s published text says “in the third month,” which in context appears to be an error for the third year, since the discount it describes runs for two years — for an average of US$74 per school per month across the three years.
Gonzalo Berra, director of the provider Servicio Satelital S.A., put the later figure differently, telling the Herald the service could cost US$100 while still being higher than what local firms charge. The two numbers are not measuring the same thing and should not be read as rival estimates of a single quantity: Carrier’s US$74 is a blended three-year average that includes two discounted years, while his US$166 and Berra’s US$100 are both attempts to price the undiscounted service once the promotional period ends. On that like-for-like comparison the gap is between US$100 and US$166 a month — and the Herald stresses that none of these figures has been officially confirmed, because no proposal was published. Whichever is closer, both men are describing a price they consider above what Argentine providers charge.
Who pays, and who is upset
Becerra also noted that the state money comes from the Universal Service Fund, administered by ENACOM and financed by a 1% contribution from all telecoms companies — including Starlink, which has only been contributing since 2024. Competitors, he said, are upset that Starlink is accessing funding they helped provide through a handpicked process. Berra said Argentine satellite firms are being crushed by market opening and the exchange-rate lag, since their costs are in pesos and their prices in dollars.
On why state-owned ARSAT, which already connects some schools, was not chosen, Carrier said the technology of the ARSAT 1 and 2 satellites is “vastly outdated,” with speeds between 1 and 10 Mbps. Not everyone in the sector is hostile: Pablo Mosiul, CEO of Orbith and one of Starlink’s main distributors in Argentina, told the Herald the company offers a “very high-quality” solution and saw an opportunity to complement such rural satellite internet projects with local operational capabilities.
What to watch next
Two tests will show whether either arrangement holds. In Japan, the note account says au’s high-speed data and voice calls are scheduled to start within 2027 — the point at which satellite service stops being a free text-message safety net and becomes something a carrier could plausibly charge for again. In Argentina, the third year is the test: the Herald reports that provinces and municipalities take over the cost once it ends, and what they are quoted then will be the first public price anyone can compare against the estimates now circulating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which phones can use Starlink Direct in Japan?
According to a single user account published on the Japanese platform note — not a carrier announcement — au’s compatible-device list covers iPhone 13 and later, Google Pixel 9 and later, and Galaxy S22 and later as the main models. The writer says high-end handsets released from 2024 onwards tend to be compatible, and singles out Samsung for including the 2022 Galaxy S22. Starlink News has not verified this list against KDDI’s own documentation, and compatibility lists change, so check your carrier’s official device page before assuming your handset qualifies.
Does the au Starlink Direct Dedicated Plan + give you a new phone number?
According to the note account, yes: the writer says the Starlink Direct line is separate from your regular phone line, a separate number is assigned and a new SIM is issued — something the writer says they only discovered after signing the contract. Subscribers choose a physical SIM or an eSIM, and the writer says most recent handsets will mean choosing the eSIM. This is one subscriber’s description of their own sign-up and has not been independently confirmed with KDDI.
Why is the iPhone satellite connection setting greyed out?
The note writer says their satellite connection stayed greyed out even though it appeared switched on, and the on-screen text only told them to enable Location Services, which were already on. The fix, in their case, was in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services: "Cellular Network Search" was off. Turning it on cleared the greyed-out status and allowed the connection. This is a personal troubleshooting anecdote rather than guidance from Apple or a carrier, and results may differ by handset and iOS version.
Why does Argentina’s Starlink schools deal cost so much more per school than a free carrier bundle?
They are different products bought in different ways. The Japanese service described in the note account is low-bandwidth satellite messaging bundled into an existing mobile plan and distributed by carriers competing for subscribers. The Argentine contract, as reported by the Buenos Aires Herald, is for 6,000 full Starlink broadband connectivity kits on the corporate service, bought directly by the state with no public bidding process and no published Starlink proposal — so, as the Herald notes, there is no competitive price discovery to measure the figure against.
Who pays for the Argentine schools’ Starlink service after three years?
The Buenos Aires Herald reports that once the third year ends, the provinces and municipalities that joined the initiative are responsible for covering the cost of Starlink’s corporate service. Analyst Enrique Carrier told the Herald the three-year average of US$74 per school per month could serve as a benchmark for them, but the Herald says there is no official confirmation of that figure.
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