T-Mobile will only have a year of exclusive Starlink satellite access

Amjad Ali September 2, 2024

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The partnership of T-Mobile with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet constellation over dead phone signal spots coverage will only be exclusive for a year, it seems.

According to SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk, T-Mobile will enjoy exclusive access to Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellites for about one year, and then other US carriers can jump in to use the space coverage.

Starlink direct to mobile phone Internet is exclusively with @Tmobile in the US for the first year, then other carriers thereafter. We are starting off working with one carrier in each country, but ultimately hope to serve all carriers.

Elon Musk, August ’24

When T-Mobile‘s CEO Mike Sievert took to the stage at the SpaceX stomping ground in Texas with Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk two years ago to announce a dead spot network coverage partnership with the Starlink satellite connectivity service, Elon actually hinted that such a partnership will be open to anyone at some point.

The presser said that both CEOs “shared their vision for expanding Coverage Above and Beyond globally, issuing an open invitation to the world’s carriers to collaborate for truly global connectivity.”

The idea of the direct-to-cell connectivity service, for which SpaceX has already launched 168 dedicated satellites, is to cover dead spots that not only T-Mobile, but no other carrier has been able to blanket, such as areas in national parks with cell phone tower restrictions, or other hard-to-reach places.

Recently, Elon Musk even promised that Starlink is ready to provide free emergency alerts to anyone with a cell phone anywhere, based on individual country government’s approvals. SpaceX is trying to push the direct-to-cell network operation approval through the FCC, though, so such announcements are mainly aimed at placating regulators for now.

Still, the first space tweet via a Starlink satellite to a regular Verizon Samsung Galaxy is already in the books, as is the first video streaming session, so things are advancing in a way that will bring not only basic texts and emergency messaging to T-Mobile phones, but much more robust satellite coverage when the Coverage Above and Beyond service goes live later this year.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he’s keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.

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