Starlink’s plans are advancing at a good pace and its strategy to change the way in which citizens communicate in risk situations is close to materializing. For the moment, the entity has already received the permission it needed to be able to offer the satellite-to-mobile calling service.
It was quite obvious to imagine that, with the latest political changes that have occurred in the United States, Elon Musk, SpaceX and Starlink would not have many problems in moving forward. However, the truth is that there is not as much political impact as one might have imagined, since the FCC was already working closely with Starlink on testing these types of calls. They received authorization to use them in one of the last crises experienced in the country and are now moving towards making this service a standard.
Collaboration with T-Mobile
For its plans to be carried out in the best possible way and for this Starlink service to end up becoming the expected engine of change, the company needed an ally. Aware of this, they already thought about this factor years ago and, in the summer of 2022, they announced an alliance with T-Mobile, one of the most important operators in the United States. Now, the FCC permission has already been granted and that will allow the two companies to get to work to begin offering the service to interested users.
The plans with T-Mobile had been on paper for a long time and it was even expected that the start of the service would take place in 2023. In any case, things have not gone as fast as expected and there were even doubts about whether Starlink would get the necessary approval to continue with its plan. However, even with this delay from the original plans, Starlink is still at the forefront of a sector that is sure to be of great importance in the future.
Starlink has a great challenge ahead
Do not think that, upon receiving the permit, all the work is done. In reality, for this service to materialize, Starlink will still have to carry out several processes and ensure that everything is in order. For example, the first thing they will have to do is check that satellite-mobile communication can be used in all cases without any type of inconvenience. This means checking that all the engineering works at the highest level and that mobile phones have no problem connecting with the telephone systems that are on the Starlink satellites. Possibly, it will be something that they will achieve in a short period of time, since, as we said, Starlink had already offered these calls.
This occurred during the chaos that was experienced in some areas of the United States due to the impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton, at which time the FCC gave special permission to Starlink. In that period, the company was able to verify that everything was working in order and it is possible that, if there were any problems, they used the experience to resolve them by making adjustments.
Although there were those who pressured the FCC not to approve Starlink’s request, they have finally decided that it is best for citizens. In their approval letter, they indicate that they believe that the service that T-Mobile and SpaceX will offer with Starlink will provide many benefits. One of them will be that, in emergency situations, users will have the opportunity to call for help or send text messages to 911, the Spanish equivalent of 112. And they remember, so that we understand it better, that this was precisely what Starlink did during the hurricanes thanks to the special permission they received.
Starlink’s satellite proposal, today, will continue to depend on the support provided by T-Mobile, becoming an expansion of the terrestrial telephone service that it offers. Due to this, one of the obligations that the SpaceX company has committed to is to avoid interference or problems with the ground services that are already offered.
Starlink is not alone in this market, since there are other companies that also want to offer the same service. For example, Lynk already provides this technology in other countries and was hoping to do so in the United States as well, but at the moment it does not have any partners to do so. For this reason, Starlink is positioned at the forefront in the North American market. Their plan is that, sooner or later, we can say goodbye definitively to those moments in which we see the “no signal” message appear on our mobile phone. With your proposal, there will always be one last alternative: your satellites.
