On Wednesday, simply at some point after SpaceX acquired $17 billion of wireless spectrum from telecommunications firm EchoStar, Elon Musk made some sometimes daring claims for a way he would put it to make use of. The second-richest person in the world described a imaginative and prescient the place Starlink may very well be your one-stop-shop for connectivity, whether or not at house or whenever you’re away out of your Wi-Fi. 

On the All-In podcast, Musk mentioned Starlink might finally mix its house web service with cellular. However he was cautious to notice that Starlink wouldn’t be placing AT&T, T-Cellular and Verizon out of enterprise anytime quickly – these firms nonetheless personal much more of the wi-fi spectrum that’s used to ship texts, make calls and stream movies. However the billionaire grinned when it was prompt that one option to purchase extra spectrum can be to buy Verizon outright.

“It’s not out of the query,” Musk mentioned. “I suppose which will occur.”

The SpaceX CEO additionally outlined a plan to make the most of the newly acquired spectrum to make use of Starlink satellites, which SpaceX calls “cell towers in area,” to ship information on to prospects’ telephones. Out of SpaceX’s 8,140 total satellites in orbit, 657 are direct-to-cell. The remainder are used for Starlink’s internet service. 

“That is type of a long-term factor,” Musk mentioned of the EchoStar spectrum buy. “It’s going to enable SpaceX to ship high-bandwidth connectivity immediately from the satellites to the telephones. However there are {hardware} modifications that have to occur within the cellphone.”

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With a view to use the EchoStar spectrum, cellphones must be outfitted with chipsets that work with these frequencies. Musk estimates that might take about two years.

“I feel their place within the ecosystem is to assist the massive carriers by offering satellite tv for pc connectivity in order that they will join anyplace, anytime,” Jeff Moore, an business analyst with Wave7 Analysis, informed CNET.

In July, SpaceX launched a partnership with T-Mobile that makes use of Starlink satellites to fill connectivity gaps in useless zones across the nation. Prospects enrolled within the T-Satellite tv for pc service can ship SMS texts proper now, however the service will increase subsequent month to incorporate information assist in third-party apps like AccuWeather, AllTrails, WhatsApp and X.

The brand new EchoStar spectrum would basically hypercharge Starlink’s direct-to-cell bandwidth capabilities, however it’ll take a while to get there. 

“It’s on the market already, however the extra capability you have got, the higher, and the extra frequencies you have got the higher,” says Moore. “There is definitely room for enchancment. I feel that is the intention of the spectrum transaction.”

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