T-Mobile says it is removing mobile dead zones thanks to a new partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet, on an event hosted by T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and Elon Musk. With their “Coverage Above and Beyond” configuration, cell phones can connect to satellites and use a portion of a connection that provides approximately 2 to 4 megabits per second (total) of connectivity over a given coverage area.
According to Musk, second generation Starlink satellites launching next year, the service will be able to broadcast using some of T-Mobile’s mid-band PCS spectrum, which was boosted when it was allowed to buy Sprint a few years ago. Musk said the new satellites have “big, big antennas” that are 5 to 6 meters wide to allow for the new connections, and that the plan is to launch the equipment using the upcoming Starship rocket.
Note, connectivity is 2 to 4 Mbits per cell zone, so works fine for texting and voice calls, but not high bandwidth
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2022
The company says you can text, send MMS messages and even use “select messaging apps” when you have a clear view of the sky, even if no traditional service is available. “If there aren’t too many people in the cell zone, you might even have a little bit of video,” Musk said. As Sievert described it, messaging app operators such as WhatsApp or iMessage will have to partner with T-Mobile and Starlink for their services to recognize and work with the satellite connection once it launches.
Musk gave a little more detail, saying that unlike the usual internet service, it could work without access to Starlink’s entire satellite constellation. By limiting it to certain messages and services, and only in places that currently don’t have cellular connectivity, it could use a more intermittent connection for “basic” coverage, although you may have to wait 30 minutes for a message to be sent through.
The two executives said they are seeking partnerships with mobile carriers around the world who would be interested in mutual spectrum sharing agreements so that their customers can connect to SpaceX, and when T-Mobile customers move to other countries. come, they can also use those connections.
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The service will launch in beta next year, and Sievert says he hopes it will one day include data. He says that when it launches, T-Mobile’s “vision” is for it to be included in the carrier’s “most popular plans” for free, though he did say today’s event isn’t an official announcement. He did say that T-Mobile is looking to make it available to those on “low cost” plans for a “monthly service fee” that is lower than current satellite link services. (However, that potentially includes a wide range of prices – Garmin’s InReach satellite messenger subscriptionsfor example, start at $14.95 per month, but go up to $64.95 per month.)
T-Mobile says current subscriber phones can use the network — no special equipment required. While there are rumors that future iPhones will include satellite communications, possibly for emergency purposes, that’s not the kind of technology T-Mobile is counting on here. As Elon Musk said in the announcement, “the phone you currently have will work.”
Sievert also said T-Mobile was “open” to the possibility of using SpaceX for its network backhaul in the future, especially in rural areas. While that’s clearly a few steps beyond what the two companies are offering now (again, Musk says each cell will support about 2-4 megabits), it could help make it cheaper for the carrier to expand its network. . Such a plan would be similar to what Verizon announced in conjunction with Amazon’s Kuiper satellite internet project, though that plan seems much further away from completion as Amazon doesn’t appear to have launched any of its satellites yet.
Earlier this year, SpaceX lost a bid for nationwide internet subsidies because of the cost of its equipment. But if it can piggyback on T-Mobile’s existing equipment, which people in rural areas may already own, that could help her case with the Federal Communications Commission. Thursday’s presentation certainly touched on the idea of national coverage, with videos of people in remote parksthe mountains or herding animals.
