SpaceX plans to launch the Starlink mobile service this fall

SpaceX plans to launch its Starlink system for phones this fall, pending FCC approval.

The company disclosed the target launch date in a filing on the commission’s new rules for providing satellite connectivity to U.S. airlines, known as “supplemental coverage from space.”

“SpaceX supports virtually all of the Commission’s recent SCS orders and looks forward to launching commercial direct-to-cellular services in the United States this fall,” the company wrote.

The filing also teases more about SpaceX’s long-term goals for the “direct to cell” Starlink system, which will send internet data to unmodified smartphones on the ground, making it a useful way to serve consumers in cellular dead zones.

“While SpaceX currently plans to offer text, voice and web browsing through its supplementary coverage network, future innovations could enable even more robust supplemental coverage service and enhanced features,” the company wrote. “While this enhanced service will not replace terrestrial mobile networks, it would provide an improved source of connectivity where those networks do not exist.”

(Credit: Starlink.com)

Still, SpaceX says the FCC’s current framework for providing satellite connectivity to phones has one stumbling block. The company’s filing urges the Commission to relax the overall limit on radio frequencies for cellular satellites, specifically the “one-size-fits-all total out-of-band power density.”

Instead, SpaceX supports replacing the one-size-fits-all limitation with more detailed “band-specific limits” to help the company improve the coverage and reliability of its upcoming Starlink mobile system.

“An across-the-board, total out-of-band limit, on the other hand, will unfortunately undermine the goal of providing robust coverage during emergencies,” the company wrote. The same limit could also prevent SpaceX from developing future innovations for Starlink cellular technology.

“Even if operators could provide robust coverage under the overall PFD limit in the SCS Order, compliance with such a restrictive limit would require satellite operators to reduce network coverage and capacity or significantly suppress their signals to comply with the limit comply,” the company added.

SpaceX and its partner T-Mobile – the first US carrier to adopt Starlink mobile technology – previously told the FCC that the radio frequency limit is too restrictive. But in March, the FCC noted that rivals including AT&T, Verizon and Dish Network were lobbying the Commission to keep the restriction in place, citing the need to protect against potential radio interference.

SpaceX filed the filing as numerous groups provide comments to the FCC about its framework for enabling satellite connectivity to phones. Scientists, among others, expressed concern that SpaceX’s Starlink cellular satellites pose an existential risk to radio astronomy, citing increased radio interference.

But in a separate filing with the FCC, SpaceX said it has been working with the astronomy community to mitigate the potential risks. The company also said the Commission could consider requiring companies to work with the National Science Foundation before operating satellite connectivity services in the US.

“A general post-grant coordination requirement would avoid establishing protection criteria that could quickly become outdated,” SpaceX added. “For example, over the past decade, satellite technology has rapidly improved, allowing for more efficient and dynamic sharing through steerable phased array antennas, dynamic beam planning and lower altitude operations, placing smaller beam footprints on the ground.”