SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to start testing their satellite phones starting this year, an executive from Elon Musk’s company said Monday, according to CNBC television.
Space X and T-Mobile announced in August that they wanted to end “white zones” thanks to satellites. SpaceX’s Starlink satellites will connect directly to T-Mobile phones to provide phone service to the most isolated places beyond the reach of cell towers.
The new service, which will use the thousands of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites already in orbit and work on existing phones, was expected to start allowing you to send and receive text messages starting in late 2023, and is expected to follow voice services.
4000 Starlink satellites
Although satellite Internet access has been around for several years, users today require specialized equipment such as Starlink terminals.
The service “will not have the kind of bandwidth that a Starlink terminal would have, but it will allow you to send text messages, images and, if there are not too many people in the mobile area, you may even have some video,” Elon Musk said. he argued in August.
“It will save lives”, the American billionaire had also advanced, taking the example of lost hikers who currently could not ask for help.
According to CNBC, SpaceX has launched nearly 4,000 Starlink satellites to date and recently deployed its most powerful “V2 Mini” satellites. The US company would build six satellites a day at its facilities near Seattle, according to Jonathan Hofeller, and would produce “thousands” of user terminals a day.
The SpaceX executive also claimed Monday that Space X currently has “more than” one million Starlink users.
Source: BFM TV
