The satellite-to-phone service T-Mobile and Starlink first announced back in 2022 has gotten a lot closer to deployment. As SpaceNews and Reuters report, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the companies conditional approval to provide T-Mobile subscribers coverage using Starlink satellites in locations that can’t be reached by the carrier’s network. Specifically, the FCC has given them permission to use up to 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites for the service, as long as they do not interfere with other networks.
The commission has deferred on deciding whether to allow Starlink to increase its satellites’ radio emission power in order to be able to provide real-time voice and video calls. From the very start, though, the companies intended to launch the service with messaging capabilities before expanding it until it can offer data and voice. When the companies introduced the project, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said they were envisioning a future wherein you’re connected on your mobile phone as long as you have a view of the sky, even if you’re in the middle of the ocean. By providing subscribers with supplemental coverage from space, they’ll still be able to stay in touch with loved ones — or ask for help in case of emergencies — from far flung locations cell towers don’t typically reach.
“The FCC is actively promoting competition in the space economy by supporting more partnerships between terrestrial mobile carriers and satellite operators to deliver on a single network future that will put an end to mobile dead zones,” said FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel.
While the companies announced their teamup back in 2022, the commission only set a regulatory framework for supplemental coverage from space (SCS) services in March this year. Those rules are meant to ensure that satellite-to-phone services wouldn’t affect the quality of 4G and 5G networks. AT&T previously raised concerns that T-Mobile’s and Starlink’s service, in its proposed state, could interfere with existing wireless services. The carrier also has plans for satellite services of its own in partnership with AST SpaceMobile and said it intends “to provide the demonstrations necessary to show that they will not cause interference to any authorized terrestrial system.”
T-Mobile and Starlink sent and received the first text messages using the technology back in January. In the months that followed, the FCC had given them permission to enable satellite texting in certain locations so that people could stay connected in hurricane-hit areas.