SpaceX, recently deployed the first six 'Direct to Cell' satellites for Starlink. The Falcon 9 rocket was used to launch 21 satellites to orbit from California. This included the six 'Direct to Cell' satellites. The company has confirmed that the satellites were successfully deployed. With this, smartphones can directly get satellite service without requiring any additional hardware. So in places where terrestrial cellular networks can't reach, the beams of these satellites can! This will ensure connectivity in the remotest regions of the planet.
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Elon Musk said that this will allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth.
However, the 'Direct to Cell' service isn't at par with the regular terrestrial cellular network service a consumer is used to. While the technology can work with existing LTE phones, it can't match the network performance of 4G or 5G, in fact, even of 3G.
Musk added, "Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial cellular networks."
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But the service does solve a key problem of not getting connectivity in remote areas such as forests or mountains where cellular services aren't deployed by the telecom operators. Starlink has partnered with telecom operators across the globe to offer this service to their customers. At this point, the service is only available for the customers of the following operators: T-Mobile (USA), Rogers (Canada), Optus (Australia), Entel (Chile), Salt Mobile (Switzerland), One NZ (New Zealand), and KDDI (Japan).
In 2024, as per the website of Starlink Direct to Cell, only texting service will be available. Voice and data along with IoT connectivity support will come from 2025 onwards.
