SpaceX plans to start testing its satellite-to-cell service of Starlink with T-Mobile this year, an executive of SpaceX reported.
Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president of Starlink enterprise sales, said, “We’re going to learn a lot by doing — not necessarily by over-analyzing — and getting out there.”
The market for space-based data services is widely recognized to have great potential, with a variety of satellite firms partnering with terrestrial mobile network operators, and smartphone device manufacturers to bridge coverage gaps across the Earth.
SpaceX and T-Mobile declared their partnership in August 2022 with the aim to end mobile dead zones.
Till date, SpaceX has launched approximately 4,000 Starlink satellites and recently rolled out highly powerful V2 Mini satellites with quadruple capacity in comparison to the previous generation.
Hofeller said, “SpaceX is manufacturing six satellites per day at its facility near Seattle and that the company is no longer manufacturing its previous 1.5 series of Starlink satellites. The company is also producing thousands of user terminals per day.”
Hofeller emphasized that launching second-generation satellites is tied very much to Starship, the firm’s towering rocket that is yet to reach space.
Hofeller said that SpaceX has crossed the milestone of 1 million Starlink users in December 2022.
