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The FCC has given SpaceX permission to move forward with plans to offer a direct-to-phone version of its Starlink satellite internet service, with T-Mobile as its provider and some conditions in place.
The proposal dates back to the summer of 2022, when SpaceX and T-Mobile first announced that they were seeking to enable the mobile provider’s customers to access Starlink on their phones. At the time, they said they expected service to begin in 2023, but here we are at the end of 2024 and it has only now received regulatory approval.
However, this is a coup for Starlink, which will get its foot into the US market before its competitors, including current direct-to-phone satellite provider Lynk, which is already in orbit but has no US commercial partners. SpaceX will be able to use certain radio bands, in close partnership with T-Mobile as a ground operator, to allow customers with compatible devices to communicate.
But as company leaders point out in the announcement, there’s more to it than just getting approval and running a service. Non-trivial engineering problems must be solved in order to synchronize the phone with a cell “tower” that is physically located on a satellite hundreds of miles away and moving at thousands of miles per hour. But they seem to have that part figured out: The company offered video calling six months ago, and as the FCC noted, direct phone connections were allowed during Hurricanes Helen and Milton to allow isolated areas better access to emergency services.
The FCC states in its filing (First reported by BloombergThe upward trend is clear:
We find that SpaceX and T-Mobile’s SCS operations will bring many benefits, including increased access to emergency services in areas where consumers would otherwise not have the ability to access a terrestrial network to call or text 911, as is evident; For example, by SpaceX providing emergency SCS in areas affected by Hurricanes Helen and Milton.
There are some limitations to how this type of service (which the FCC calls “supplemental coverage from space” or SCS) works. For now, it officially has to act as an extension of an existing landline provider, in this case T-Mobile. This is because the regulations for how things are broadcast into space are different from those for how things are broadcast to and from a phone (as opposed to a base station antenna). AT&T, for its part, is teaming up with AST SpaceMobile.
SpaceX must also ensure that its service does not interfere with other services on Earth, while it does not have to worry about whether ground services might interfere with satellite signals.
As for latency and signal strength, every kilometer of altitude counts – and Starlink reaches a level of 530 kilometres. Fortunately for SpaceX, the FCC has allowed it to operate any of its remaining 7,500 certified satellites at altitudes of 340, 345, 350, and 360 kilometers. Insiders must have noticed that this is fairly close to the minimum orbit of the International Space Station (370 km) – and in fact, SpaceX would need to coordinate any deployment below 400 km with NASA.
It’s notable, from reading the filing, how many of Starlink’s theoretical competitors — Amazon’s Kuiper, DISH, Omnispace, TerreStar, and more — have filed objections to its applications, no doubt to delay them. That’s not to say their objections were unfounded, but the FCC clearly wasn’t convinced by many of them, or happy to let SpaceX treat their applications with the appropriate remedies.
Before long, the idea of ”no signal” will be a thing of the past — and fortunately, many industry participants tend to prefer universal access for emergencies and the like, rather than premium access to stream Netflix at Burning Man. However, there is nothing in the filing to indicate when SpaceX and T-Mobile will bring the service online or at what cost.
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