SpaceX’s Starlink to Launch Satellite SMS Service in 2024
SpaceX’s Starlink has unveiled plans for a satellite-based SMS service called Direct-to-Cell, set to launch in 2024, as indicated on their recent promotional website.
Initial tests for this service, conducted in collaboration with T-Mobile, were disclosed earlier this year. While the 2024 launch is eagerly anticipated, it will initially provide SMS service only, with voice, data, and IoT features expected to be incorporated in 2025.
Once it reaches its final form, Direct-to-Cell aims to provide comprehensive connectivity for text messaging, calling, and internet browsing across various terrains.
This will enable “ubiquitous access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be, whether on land, lakes, or coastal waters,” according to the website.
In their partnership with T-Mobile, a portion of T-Mobile’s 5G spectrum is dedicated to Starlink’s second-generation satellites. In return, T-Mobile phones will gain access to the satellite network, resulting in nearly complete coverage across the United States.
Elon Musk recently stated in a press release, “The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone.”
In the summer of the previous year, Musk mentioned in an X post that “Starlink V2,” set to launch the following year, would “transmit direct to mobile phones, eliminating dead zones worldwide.”
However, this timeline was later adjusted in March 2023, indicating that testing would begin in 2023 before full commercial operations. Several factors, including the incompatibility of the current 4,265 satellites with the new cell service, may potentially delay the full launch of services.
Starlink will need to launch additional microsatellites to facilitate the network, and over the next few years, full services are likely to become available once this network is established.
