A battle royal is unfolding among communication carriers and front and centre, is who will be first to deliver direct-to-smartphone text messages and in the future national smartphone coverage via satellites provided by Amazon and Elon Musk’s Starling network.

The move could result in a surge for new smartphone handsets with retailers such as JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman benefiting as consumers upgrade to devices that are capable of sending and receiving text messages over satellite networks.

Telstra who service costs keep climbing claim that they are months away from launching direct-to-smartphone text messages with rivals Optus and Vodafone owner TPG also working to deliver the new capability ahead of Telstra.

Yesterday Telstra boss Vicky Brady was out spinning Telstra’s case after TPG who operate on the Vodafone network claims that Telstra has been basically ripping off rural consumers with poor service and costs that are a “bush tax”.

Direct-to-smartphone text messaging, often referred to as Direct to Handset (DTH) or satellite-to-mobile messaging, allows users to send and receive text messages via satellite, even when outside of traditional cellular coverage.

This technology leverages existing smartphone capabilities, allowing for SMS communication via satellite networks which consumers in rural Australia will benefit from in the future.

TPG Telecom has successfully sent the first direct-to-smartphone text message on the Vodafone mobile network using Lynk Global’s fleet of low earth orbit satellites.

Connecting through Lynk’s “cell tower in space” LEO satellites, TPG Telecom sent a series of text messages from rural New South Wales to standard smartphones via the Vodafone mobile network.

This appears to have rattled Telstra who is now moving to spin their upcoming version.

In an interview with the Australian this week Vicky Brady defended its prices, saying it offers unrivalled coverage, particularly in rural and regional areas, and its deal with Starlink will ensure even more Australians have access to telecommunications.

Front and centre of the testing are Samsung and Google Pixel handsets which are already enabled for Satellite delivery of text messages.

Telstra technology advancement executive Channa Seneviratne said the telco was months away from launching the service to the broader public.

“It’s going to happen before the end of this year,” Mr Seneviratne told the Australian “We’re very obviously excited about the new technology. It’s a fantastic capability, but we want to make sure that we’ve tuned it as best we can before we give it the green flag to go ahead.”

TPG demonstrated their satellite text messaging using Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel handsets,

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Optus had planned to go live with its direct-to-smartphone text message via satellite offering – also with Starlink – late last year. But it said regulatory hurdles had delayed the launch.

What the carriers appear to be struggling with are latency issues using satellites claims an NBN insider.

Recently Amazon launched a new Kuiper satellite network with the National Broadband Networking looking to use the Amazon network in the future to deliver services.

Telstra’s Seneviratne claims that she doesn’t expect satellites to match land-based services.

“Look; to be honest, I don’t think from a sending perspective, it’s ever going to be as good as a terrestrial. If you’re doing terrestrial coverage, you’re receiving radio coverage from one or more antennas”.

The Optus deal with Starlink was expected to go live in 2024 but to date they have failed to launch a service due to regulatory hurdles.

Starlink’s current fleet of 400 to 500 satellites also lacks the density to provide a voice-capable service in Australia.

Optus has been allocated spectrum near the 2600MHz band for its service, which telco insiders say is towards the upper limit of what’s technically possible with Starlink.

US telco T-Mobile, which is using 1900MHz, is not voice-enabled yet because of this reliability.