Earlier this week, SpaceX successfully launched six direct-to-cell satellites into Earth’s orbit, which T-Mobile and other providers will use.
“Acts as a cellphone tower in space” technology on the Starlink direct-to-cell satellites helps reduce cell service dead zones, according to the aerospace business run by Elon Musk.
According to SpaceX, they took off from California late on Tuesday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket together with fifteen other Starlink satellites.
According to T-Mobile, field testing for the service will begin “soon.” Customers will initially only be able to use it for text messaging, according to the business.
T-Mobile Products, Strategy, and Marketing The launch was hailed by President Mike Katz as a “pivotal moment for this revolutionary alliance with SpaceX and our global partners across the world as we work to make dead zones an event of the past.”
In August 2023, the telecom provider and SpaceX announced their first direct-to-cell partnership.
Six other businesses intend to employ the technology, according to SpaceX. According to the corporation, these include Entel in Chile and Peru, One NZ in New Zealand, Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, and Salt in Switzerland.
Users “have access to reciprocal global access in all partner nations,” according to SpaceX stated on its website.
On his social networking site X, Elon Musk stated, “This [technology] will allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth.” “Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam, and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for situations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully relevant with existing terrestrial cellular networks.”
Next year, SpaceX will offer voice, data, and other services directly to cell phones.
The aerospace business claims that it will eventually deploy its reusable Starship rocket for direct-to-cell satellites.
To date, SpaceX has carried out 297 launches of various kinds. Its most recent mission, Ovzon 3, was launched in Florida on Wednesday.