FCC approves T-Mobile and Starlink's direct-to-cell service

What you need to know

• T-Mobile and Starlink have been working since 2022 to bring direct-to-cell satellite service to T-Mobile subscribers.
• Now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has signed off, in an industry-first.
• The commission says bringing satellite cell service to mobile customers has "critical public interest benefits."

Following the program's announcement in 2022, T-Mobile and Starlink are moving ahead with their plan to bring direct-to-cell satellite service to T-Mobile customers after gaining regulatory approval this week. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission signed off on the two companies' direct-to-cell service, with a few caveats, it said in a filing. Albeit limited, the FCC's approval is an industry-first for direct-to-cell connectivity (via The Verge).

The initiative is all about eradicating dead spots, in other words, the areas left uncovered or unreliable by traditional cellular service. T-Mobile and Starlink, a network of SpaceX broadband satellites, want to help people connect their phones to space satellites when cell towers can't cut it.

We've seen similar implementations of this, like Emergency SOS via satellite by Apple and Globalstar. However, many of these implementations have been restricted to emergency use only, whereas T-Mobile and SpaceX want to bring the tech mainstream. Ben Longmier, the senior director of satellite engineering at SpaceX, said that an employee beta service should be activated "soon" in the U.S.

Part of the reason the FCC gave T-Mobile and Starlink the green light is because the commission thinks it'll benefit the public. "The Commission recognized that satellite-to-device connectivity can support critical public interest benefits," it wrote in the filing, "including ubiquitous connectivity, access to 911 service from remote areas, technological advancement, and innovative spectrum use."

However, SpaceX is still awaiting approval for a few specific measures. It wants to boost radio emission power to support more demanding use cases for satellite connectivity, like video calls. The FCC hasn't granted approval for this yet, and the other major carriers are pushing back. AT&T and Verizon worry that the higher radio emission power of its satellites could interfere with their cellular networks.

Meanwhile, those two companies are working with AST SpaceMobile to develop a competing service to T-Mobile and Starlink's upcoming offering.

“The FCC is actively promoting competition in the space economy by supporting more partnerships between terrestrial mobile carriers and satellite operators to deliver on a single network future that will put an end to mobile dead zones," said Jessica Rosenworcel, the chair of the FCC, in a statement to Reuters.