Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink will now support continuous video calls, messaging and data services with its direct-to-cell technology offered to T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) subscribers.
Check out the current price of TMUS here.
Starlink Now Provides Continuous Data In 5 Continents
Sharing the update on the T-Mobile partnership, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell quoted a post by T-Mobile on X on Wednesday. “Today, we’re so proud to support continuous data, video, voice, and messaging across 5 continents,” Shotwell said in her post. She also thanked Starlink’s “partners” for making the technology available to their customers.
Starlink-Enabled Smartphones
The news comes as Starlink has reportedly been in talks with chipmakers, exploring ways to develop smartphone chips that would directly let mobile devices access Starlink’s service.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had also recently shared at an event that there could be Starlink-enabled smartphones, saying that there would need to be “hardware changes that need to happen in the phones,” to be able to connect to Starlink frequencies. He also added that SpaceX was building dedicated satellites for smartphone connectivity.
EchoStar Spectrum Acquisition, United Airlines Free WiFi
Meanwhile, SpaceX also recently acquired EchoStar Corp’s (NASDAQ:SATS) AWS-4 and H-Block Spectrum licenses in a deal worth over $17 billion. The acquisition could hand SpaceX a major boost for making Starlink accessible to a wider audience.
Elsewhere, United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide Starlink WiFi onboard the company’s Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) 737-800 aircraft scheduled to depart on October 15 from New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Read Next:
Trump Eases Space Regulations In Boost For Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin And More
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock