On Wednesday, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX (an Aerospace company), reported the success of the Starlink mission. This is the company’s first-ever Direct-To-Cell satellite launch.

Billionaire Elon Musk revealed and received praise for the successful launch of Starlink’s Direct-To-Cell satellite. Falcon 9 launched 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.. The new satellite is expected to streamline internet connectivity for all its users.

What is Starlink’s Direct-To-Cell service?

Starlink Direct-To-Cell Service will begin operating in the coming days. The implementation of the text function will be active in 2024, while the activation of the voice, data, and IOT services will occur in 2025.

By functioning as a mobile phone tower in orbit, Direct to Cell technology will be compatible with LTE phones. This means that if you have an active satellite signal, service will be available everywhere. For the same, no hardware or external connections are needed.

The enhanced Starlink satellites have an advanced modem that acts as a cellphone tower in space, eliminating dead zones with network integration similar to a standard roaming partner., as stated on SpaceX’s official website.

Global cellular providers using Direct to Cell to gain reciprocal access in all partner nations include T-Mobile in the U.S., Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland, and Entel in Chile and Peru.

This will allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth. Note, that this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial cellular networks, said Elon Musk on his X account.

View of last night’s @Starlink satellite deployment, including the first six with Direct to Cell capabilities pic.twitter.com/tjrWMJfqH4

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2024