FCC green lights Starlink and T-Mobile direct-to-cell service

The US mobile operator has yet to comment on the regulator's decision – which comes with many a condition, of course – and indeed an imminent launch may be too big an ask; there are many stakeholders at play, which means a significant coordination effort. But Starlink executives are pretty excited... although nothing yet on a launch date.

"The @FCC approving the @Starlink and @TMobile Direct to Cell service in the US is a huge and critical step towards enabling ubiquitous high quality text, data, emergency, and eventually voice connectivity in the US and internationally," Sara Spangelo, Senior Director, Satellite Engineering, co-lead Direct to Cell, at SpaceX, Starlink's parent company, posted on X (Twitter).

Company founder Elon Musk simply said "Thanks," incidentally, and then went back to his day job in politics.

The FCC announced its decision in a lengthy filing in which it dismissed some of the objections from Starlink's detractors – telcos, mainly; T-Mobile US's big rivals all have skin in this game – and kicked others down the road.

It's wordy document, but essentially it paves the way for the launch of direct-to-cell text messaging, while holding back on the voice and data element that was always due to come at a later date.

The FCC authorised Starlink to build and deploy up to 7,500 second-generation, or Gen2, satellites two years ago. It has now given it the nod to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS) within the US and to use those satellites for a direct-to-cell operation. It also has the green light to use T-Mobile US's spectrum for that purpose, the FCC making specific reference to a lease agreement between the pair covering frequencies at 1910-1915 MHz (Earth-to-space) and 1990-1995 MHz (space-to-Earth). The order also covers direct-to-cell services outside of the US, again subject to conditions.

One of the conditions is that Starlink must coordinate its plans with NASA to make sure they do not interfere with the International Space Station (ISS), ISS visiting vehicles, and launch windows for NASA missions.

"We defer consideration of SpaceX's request for a waiver of the aggregate out-of-band power flux-density (PFD) limit of -120 dBW/m2/MHz on SCS operations," the FCC said.

That's a key statement. It means it is pushing a decision on Starlink's request for looser power emission rules further into the future. As we understand it, that's something the satellite company will need in order to be able to move from direct-to-cell text messaging to voice and data.

The FCC also said it will defer SpaceX's petition to launch additional Gen2 Starlink satellites beyond the 7,500 limit.

But despite not having all of its requests approved, this is a definite win for SpaceX. It gives it – and T-Mobile – a further leg up in the race for space-based mobile communications in the US. AT&T and Verizon, both of whom objected to various elements of SpaceX's regulatory requests, including that linked to power, are in bed with rival direct-to-cell wannabe AST SpaceMobile, but remain way behind Starlink and T-Mobile.

This FCC announcement does not mean a satellite-based text messaging service will go mainstream in the US in a matter of days. But it is a huge step in the right direction.