• AT&T CEO is brushing off concerns that satellite-based internet could threaten his business.
• "I think LEO constellations are fantastic for delivering bandwidth to rural areas," he said.
• When it comes to where lots of people live, he said fiber-connected performance can't be beat.

Elon Musk wants SpaceX to become a major US mobile carrier. AT&T CEO John Stankey says: not so fast.

AT&T has an advantage from years of investment in dense urban and suburban areas, he said on AT&T's third-quarter earnings call, a day after Musk and SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell reported more than 22 million monthly Starlink Mobile users.

"Our competitors cannot and will not match our operating proficiency, network performance, or exceptional converged value proposition," Stankey said.

Stankey sees a use case for satellite-based internet to soften the edges of fiber-connected and 5G networks, especially in places where it's too expensive to build out the physical infrastructure, he said.

"I think LEO constellations are fantastic for delivering bandwidth to rural areas," he said, using the acronym for low-Earth orbit satellite arrays.

Shotwell said Tuesday that Starlink recently got FCC approval to launch 15,000 V2 satellites. She also noted a recent agreement to acquire a portfolio of low-band transmission spectrum, or wireless frequency licenses, which better penetrate buildings to reach indoor devices.

Stankey was unimpressed.

"How you perform indoors, of course, is extremely important, and we shouldn't think about those as being nominal loads," he said. "They're significant loads, even with robust Wi-Fi networks that are out there."

This is especially critical in crowded environments like stadiums and hospitals, where he said AT&T has been focused on beefing up signal support.

"I wouldn't over-rotate on what I would call one carrier of low band spectrum," he said, referring to Starlink.

Count Dani Watt as the lone voice in the NFL wilderness questioning the league's wisdom about playing Sunday's game in France amid civil unrest that has rocked Paris and other parts of the country.

Even as the league's march toward playing its first-ever game in France seems inexorable with no one else publicly questioning going into a riot-torn country, Watt asked one simple question on her Instagram story relating to how the game remains on schedule:

"Tell me how this one makes sense???" Watt posted.

Dani Watt is T.J. Watt's wife.

T.J. Watt is one of the Pittsburgh Steelers' best players and perhaps their best defensive player.

And as such, he's scheduled to board a charter flight with his teammates to France on Thursday in advance of the Steelers playing the New Orleans Saints at Stade de France, 20 miles or so from the center of Paris, where cars were burned and stores have been looted in recent days.

You know what else Dani Watt is?

She's the first person connected to the NFL to ask this fundamental and logical question. No one else has done that.

No one else – not any coach, player or even any politician in either Louisiana or Pennsylvania – has been so candid about what is about to happen.

NFL MONITORS FRANCE STREET VIOLENCE BEFORE SAINTS-STEELERS GAME NEAR PARIS WITH A MAJOR DECISION LOOMING

And what is about to happen is that the NFL is sending two teams to a foreign country dealing with burning, looting, protesting, rioting, arrests and other violence, so the teams can play a football game within driving distance of the problems.

So, to echo Watt, how does this one make sense?

NFL FRANCE PREPARATIONS CONTINUE AS STEELERS SPEAK WITH LEAGUE, LOUISIANA GOV JEFF LANDRY HEADS TO PARIS

The NFL has said, and insisted again on Tuesday, that all is well.

OutKick has reported multiple times in the past three days that the league is full steam ahead on playing this game.

Security has been heightened.

Contingencies have been considered.

And, dang it, we're playing in France, the NFL says.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS ARRIVE IN FRANCE WITH SAFETY TOP OF MIND AHEAD OF NFL'S FIRST PARIS GAME

NFL executive vice president for Club Business, International and League Events Peter O'Reilly was asked Tuesday about the NFL's ongoing plans to play the game on Sunday.

And he went through the litany of precautions the NFL has been "vigilant" about in leading up to the game.

You know what the NFL hasn't been vigilant about? Stuff that hasn't happened. Stuff that might happen.

The situation on the ground is unpredictable because the students, communists, anarchists, anti-Israel and other protesters that have collaborated to make France a worse place to visit in recent days might do something no one expects.

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No one knows what that could be because these people are not predictable. They don't always run a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1.

They sometimes throw a bomb. Perhaps literally.

The NFL is confidently gambling none of that happens. And it probably will not. But nobody knows for sure.

And so the question Dani Watt is asking echoes in logic: How does this one make sense?

FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO