AT&T and Verizon face huge shakeup as SpaceX confirms plans to become a major US phone carrier
SpaceX is officially expanding into mobile service after the space company announced its plans to become a major US phone carrier.
This comes after SpaceX acquired radio waves and will bring the firm into direct competition with the likes of Verizon and AT&T.
This could prove to be a huge shakeup for other mobile providers as the new carrier is set to enter the market in the near future.
The space company headed up by Elon Musk made an agreement to acquire up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz low-band spectrum licenses from Grain Management, with its plans to bring Starlink Mobile to customers across the US.
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Starlink Mobile awaits final FCC approval
SpaceX made an official announcement on its website, which detailed the acquired low-band spectrum ‘addresses one of the key remaining technical gaps that will pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile carrier in the US’.
Once the firm receives final Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval then 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’.
The statement continued: “Starlink already operates the world’s most advanced broadband network from space, serving millions of customers across the United States and around the world with high-speed internet. With this new low-band spectrum and our Gen2 constellation, Starlink Mobile can now become the first network operator to deploy both satellite and terrestrial spectrum. One network that provides Americans with a reliable service indoors, outdoors, in cellular dead zones, and everywhere in between.”
SpaceX to launch 15,000 more satellites to space
The FCC has already approved the launch of 15,000 satellites for Starlink Mobile’s Gen2 constellation, with SpaceX stating that these are ‘optimized for 2 GHz spectrum globally’.
Musk himself has taken to social media to share his own words on the news, writing on X, formerly Twitter: “Starlink Mobile (direct-to-cell) V2 satellites are incredible. This @SpaceX constellation will enable more than 100 times the bandwidth of our current V1 system!”
SpaceX initially launched its first batch of operational Starlink satellites back in 2019. This was when a Falcon 9 rocket carried 60 satellites into low Earth orbit.
Since then, a whopping 12,988 Starlink satellites have been launched into orbit, with the firm having regulatory approval for up to 42,000 to 100,000 total satellites depending on authorization and future filings.