On Wednesday, simply sooner or later after SpaceX acquired $17 billion of wi-fi spectrum from telecommunications firm EchoStar, Elon Musk made some sometimes daring claims for a way he would put it to make use of. The second-richest individual on the planet described a imaginative and prescient the place Starlink could possibly be your one-stop-shop for connectivity, whether or not at residence or while you’re away out of your Wi-Fi.
On the All-In podcast, Musk mentioned Starlink might finally mix its residence web service with cellular. However he was cautious to notice that Starlink wouldn’t be placing AT&T, T-Cellular and Verizon out of enterprise anytime quickly – these firms nonetheless personal much more of the wi-fi spectrum that’s used to ship texts, make calls and stream movies. However the billionaire grinned when it was instructed that one strategy to purchase extra spectrum could be to buy Verizon outright.
“It’s not out of the query,” Musk mentioned. “I suppose which will occur.”
The SpaceX CEO additionally outlined a plan to make the most of the newly acquired spectrum to make use of Starlink satellites, which SpaceX calls “cell towers in house,” to ship knowledge on to clients’ telephones. Out of SpaceX’s 8,140 complete satellites in orbit, 657 are direct-to-cell. The remaining are used for Starlink’s web service.
“That is sort of a long-term factor,” Musk mentioned of the EchoStar spectrum buy. “It would enable SpaceX to ship high-bandwidth connectivity straight from the satellites to the telephones. However there are {hardware} modifications that must occur within the telephone.”
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In an effort to use the EchoStar spectrum, cellphones must be outfitted with chipsets that work with these frequencies. Musk estimates that may take about two years.
“I believe their place within the ecosystem is to assist the massive carriers by offering satellite tv for pc connectivity in order that they will join anyplace, anytime,” Jeff Moore, an trade analyst with Wave7 Analysis, informed CNET.
In July, SpaceX launched a partnership with T-Cellular that makes use of Starlink satellites to fill connectivity gaps in useless zones across the nation. Clients enrolled within the T-Satellite tv for pc service can ship SMS texts proper now, however the service will broaden subsequent month to incorporate knowledge assist in third-party apps like AccuWeather, AllTrails, WhatsApp and X.
The brand new EchoStar spectrum would primarily hypercharge Starlink’s direct-to-cell bandwidth capabilities, however it is going to take a while to get there.
“It’s on the market already, however the extra capability you may have, the higher, and the extra frequencies you may have the higher,” says Moore. “There is definitely room for enchancment. I believe that is the intention of the spectrum transaction.”
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