San Francisco, Aug 26 : Mobile phones will be connected to SpaceX’s brand new Starlink satellites in the coming year, offering between 2 to 4 megabits per second of connection (total) within a certain area of coverage, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have announced.To offer this service, the companies will develop the network via Starlink’s satellites and T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum that is available across the nation.
This satellite-to-cellular service will provide nearly complete coverage almost anywhere a customer can see the sky, US telecom carrier T-Mobile said in a statement late on Thursday.
This will enable people to text or send MMS messages or even “select messaging applications” when they have an unobstructed sight of the sky.
The service is expected to go live in beta at the end of next year in “select areas”.
“More than just a revolutionary alliance, this is two industry-changing innovators challenging the conventional methods of performing things in order to create something completely innovative that will increase the number of customers they can connect with and also scare competitorsaway,” stated Sievert.
According Musk, according to Musk, Starlink V2, which will be launched next year “will be able to transmit directly to phones, removing dead zones around the world”.
“Note that connectivity will be between 2 and 4 megabits per cell and will be perfect for voice calls and text messaging however, not for high-bandwidth calls,” he tweeted.
Musk stated Musk said that Tesla will also utilize the latest technology for the feature of premium connectivity in its electric vehicles.
Utilizing Starlink SpaceX’s constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, and TMobile’s world-leading wireless network, the company plans to provide complete coverage in the majority of places in the US even in many of the most remote areas previously inaccessible by conventional mobile signals.
“From the middle of Death Valley to the Great Smokey Mountains or even that elusive dead zone of neighbourhoods, T-Mobile and SpaceX have plans to provide customers with an additional layer of connectivity in areas that were previously inaccessible to cell signal from any service,” said the company.
The majority of smartphones that are currently using T-Mobile’s network will be able to work with the service by using the device’s radio.
“The most important aspect of this is that it means that there is no “dead zones” anywhere in the world that you can use cell phones,” said Musk.
Additionally the CEOs outlined their vision of expanding coverage Beyond and Beyond’ worldwide and issued an open invitation for the world’s telecom providers to join forces to create true global connectivity.
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