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Of the 24 Starlink satellites launched on Tuesday, six include direct-to-mobile capabilities
This week, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched its latest set of Starlink satellites, some of which have have direct-to-mobile capabilities into orbit. The Starlink low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites were launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which carried them into orbit on Tuesday evening from California.
Starlink currently has over 5,289 satellites in LEO (an altitude of around 500km) and have approval to launch 7,500 more within the next three years. Until today, all these satellites provided services via satellite user terminals – antenna dishes deployed by the customer, which acts as a middleman for communications between the satellites and user devices, like smartphones.
Six of this week’s new satellites, however, include newly developed technology that will allow customers to communicate directly via satellite using their smartphone, without the need for a terminal. According to T-Mobile, which struck a partnership with SpaceX regarding these direct-to-mobile capabilities last year, over half a million square miles of the USA – not to mention huge amounts of the oceans worldwide – are unreachable by terrestrial networks. It is hoped that the direct-to-mobile satellite coverage will serve to eliminate these so-called “dead zones”, areas that are unable to receive signal, due to either the distance from the mobile tower or signal interference.
According to the release, Starlink’s direct-to-mobile services will begin with text messaging capabilities, with voice and data coverage to come in the following years.
“Our mission is to be the best in the world at connecting customers to their world and today is another step forward in keeping our customers connected even in the most remote locations for added peace of mind when they need it most,” said Mike Katz, President of Marketing, Strategy and Products of T-Mobile in a press release.
Various worldwide wireless providers, including KDDI (Japan), Optus (Australia), One NZ (New Zealand), and Rogers Communications (Canada) are already signed up to launch direct-to-mobile technology, and other are set to join imminently.
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