T-Mobile customers in rural areas outside the company’s normal coverage areas will soon be able to receive limited mobile service directly from space thanks to a decision by the Federal Communications Commission granting SpaceX the authority to link its satellites to ground-based devices.
Previously, SpaceX has already received a temporary permit to provide so-called “direct cellular communication” in the areas affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton earlier this year. In approving the company’s request for permission to operate the service more broadly, the FCC wrote that direct connectivity “will bring many benefits, including increased access to emergency services in areas where consumers would otherwise not be able to access the landline network to call or text 911.”
PCMag previously reported that SpaceX claimed that “in just one day” its satellites provided text messaging capability to more than 27,000 phones in areas affected by the two hurricanes.
T-Mobile and SpaceX first announced their plans for a joint direct communications program in 2022. The mobile operator’s press release notes that “despite powerful LTE and 5G wireless networks, more than half a million square miles of the United States, as well as vast oceanic expanses, remain untouched by cellular service.”
SpaceX began launching satellites capable of communicating directly with mobile phones in January this year. Elon Musk, the company’s owner, noted that the reception that the satellites can provide will not compete with conventional cellular communications in areas with fully developed communication infrastructure, but will be “a great solution for places without cellular communications.”
To date, SpaceX has launched more than 300 satellites capable of providing direct cellular services, PCMag reports. The FCC has authorized the company to launch another 7,500 satellites.
Although the original timeline that T-Mobile and SpaceX proposed for their partnership has been pushed back since its announcement, SpaceX’s direct cellular website says the company plans to begin providing text messaging services via satellite this year, followed by voice, data and IoT capabilities in 2025.
SpaceX also cooperates with providers in other countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Chile, and Peru.
The FCC’s permission to launch SpaceX’s direct cellular satellites depends on the company’s cooperation with other satellite operators and astronomical organizations to ensure that the satellites do not interfere with their communications. In August, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory announced that it was working with SpaceX to mitigate the negative impact of the company’s satellite fleet on ground-based astronomical equipment.
