Texting From Space: The T-Mobile–Starlink ‘T-Satellite’ Launch Heralds the Direct-to-Device Era
In August 2022, T-Mobile and SpaceX announced the Coverage Above and Beyond partnership to end mobile dead zones by connecting standard smartphones to Starlink satellites, branded as T-Satellite with Starlink, aiming to cover roughly 500,000 square miles of the U.S. Starlink Gen2 satellites feature Direct to Cell antenna arrays that enable direct-to-device connectivity with unmodified 4G/5G smartphones, effectively emulating a space-based cell tower. The first batch of six direct-to-cell capable Starlink satellites was launched in January 2024 on a Falcon 9 rocket. In March 2024 the FCC issued rules for non-terrestrial networks and, in November 2024, granted SpaceX conditional approval