I agree that insurance is maybe not the best analogy. You need satellite capacity to send one text message. When your house burns down, you need potentially hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

The satellites are expensive, of course, but most traffic is not cell phone users needing to be rescued.

Putting up Satellites is pretty much a fixed cost. It's not like insurance. Apple is not paying for your rescue. The text costs maybe $0.25 to send.

A 1 time upfront access fee, to cover satellite fixed costs, plus a per-use fee to cover marginal costs.

Subscription-only leaves money on the table.

It's a viable insurance model, although typically only seen with warranties.

Also, you know, it is possible to pre-pay insurance. Right?