SpaceX moves to turn Starlink into next major US mobile carrier

SpaceX announced a plan on Thursday to transform its Starlink satellite constellation into the next major U.S. mobile carrier capable of competing with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.The aerospace company, led by Elon Musk, struck a deal to acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum that will advance Starlink’s wireless capabilities by enabling the signal to pass through walls and other obstacles.Low-band frequencies can travel long distances and penetrate dense structures. SpaceX said its newly acquired low-band spectrum license portfolio goes up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 megahertz band. The plan is subject to final approval from the Federal Communications Commission, led by Brendan Carr.“Once we receive final FCC approval, Starlink Mobile will deploy a flexible architecture combining our satellite-to-mobile constellation in space with an advanced terrestrial deployment that can seamlessly connect devices everywhere,” SpaceX said in a press release.“While Starlink Mobile’s global 2 GHz mid-band spectrum will provide high-bandwidth capacity in the United States, this new low-band spectrum will provide a coverage layer that ensures Starlink Mobile’s signal penetrates through obstacles, such as walls, and can provide service to customers’ devices even when they are in buildings,” the company added. “Critically, most existing mobile devices already support this underused band.”Over 11,100 Starlink satellites are in low-Earth orbit, providing high-speed, low-latency broadband internet from space to mobile users around the world. The service is particularly useful for people in remote locations, where cell towers cannot reach.Musk said the new development is a “very big deal” and the “last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”Once operational, Starlink’s nationwide low-band spectrum could pose a direct challenge to the three main legacy phone carriers. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile formed a joint satellite venture this year to eliminate what they call cellular “dead zones,” areas that Starlink Mobile would serve.AT&T CEO John Stankey recently expressed skepticism that, contrary to Musk’s hopes, Starlink’s satellite signals would be able to penetrate buildings, walls, or other barriers.WHY SPACEX’S STARSHIP ORBITAL FLIGHT TEST IS HISTORIC“If you have a lower-band spectrum, then it will have some decent penetration into some buildings,” Stankey said at a technology conference last month. “But it’s not going to penetrate the skin of a high-rise. It’s not going to penetrate a stadium where people are congregated to watch a World Cup game and be able to have the social experiences that they demand in those circumstances.”This week, SpaceX moved one step closer to its goal of building its direct-to-device Starlink Mobile service after the FCC approved the aerospace company’s application to deploy and operate 15,000 next-generation Starlink satellites.