Elon Musk’s SpaceX and T-Mobile are teaming up to offer mobile users phone service via Starlink satellites, the companies announced on Thursday.
The service will be particularly useful in areas with no cell coverage, particularly when there’s an emergency, SpaceX founder Musk said at an eventin Texas.
SpaceX and T-Mobile said in a press release that the new plan would “provide near complete coverage in most places in the US even in many of the most remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell signals.”
The service is expected to launch next year with T-Mobile using its mid-band spectrum to create a new network, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said at the same event. It will work with most phones and text service is the first to be rolled out, he added.
Musk also made the announcement on his Twitter feed, saying the new service was aimed at “eliminating dead zones worldwide.” Tesla cars would also be able to connect to new Starlink satellites that are able to transmit mobile phones, Musk said in response to questions about the function.
SpaceX’s Starlink was initially set up to provide high-speed internet to people living in rural areas with spotty coverage. It has a user base of over 400,000 subscribers worldwide and over 2,800 satellites in low-Earth orbit.
On Thursday, Starlink prices dropped for some users in the UK, Mexico, Germany, and Netherlands, according to The Verge.
