The most interesting battle in the cellular industry is playing out across the sky. Apple, Dish Network, Viasat, AST SpaceMobile and Globalstar are among the many companies beginning to compete against one another in the race to connect mobile phones directly to satellites.

If you don't think that's interesting enough, one of the latest skirmishes in this rapidly evolving battlefield involves some of the richest men in the world – Charlie Ergen, Tim Cook, Jay Monroe and, potentially, Elon Musk.

At issue in this latest dustup is a loan to Globalstar (Apple's satellite vendor) backed by EchoStar (majority owned by Ergen). And though the details are very much in the weeds, the issues involved are significant.

The development also helps to reflect the significant opportunities and challenges involved in the nascent, burgeoning market for phone-to-satellite connections...