Gopalan reiterated that T-Mobile sees satellite as complementary and rules out any MVNO deal with SpaceX in consumer or physical/edge AI.
We've been very clear that in terms of satellite, we see it as a complementary product. If we're talking about SpaceX as a customer or us being a customer of them, that's a purely commercial agreement. But the answer to the MVNO [question] is I see no room for an MVNO with SpaceX either on the consumer side or on the physical and edge AI side.
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Gopalan says millions of connected robots and drones by 2035 is a given and the open question is what infrastructure supports them, though physical AI revenue is in very early innings.
whether we're going to see millions of robots, drones, all sorts of other connected moving objects. That's kind of a given when you future-cast the world. Now the question is, what kind of infrastructure do you need to support that?
Gopalan believes large-scale physical AI deployment will definitely arrive by 2035 and that T-Mobile's nationwide advanced 5G network positions it to capture it.
I'm not going to sit here and guess whether it will happen in '27 or '28, but definitely by '35, and we are in a winning position to access this development.
Gopalan says T-Mobile monetizes physical AI by selling whole solutions rather than separate connectivity or compute, capturing part of the device cost savings from offloading compute.
So, most of our monetization to date has been through providing this solution as a whole, charging for it, and getting a share of the decline in the cost of the device.
Gopalan rules out an MVNO arrangement with SpaceX in consumer or physical/edge AI, treating satellite only as an add-on product.
I don't see a place for MVNOs with SpaceX, either at the consumer level or at the physical and peripheral AI level.
Gopalan argues satellite broadband is an inferior version of FWA outside remote rural areas, so he sees little synergy.
We have a great FWA product, and in fact in many respects, except for remote rural areas, satellite is a worse version of FWA with even greater limitations, such as beam size.