https://uk.pcmag.com/networking/1601...-carrier-plans
SpaceX Eyes 15,000 More Satellites for Cellular Starlink, Hints at Carrier Plans
SpaceX wants to launch as many as 15,000 next-generation satellites to upgrade its cellular Starlink service for phones.
On Friday, the company filed a request with the FCC for the additional satellites, which will harness the radio spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from Boost Mobile's parent, EchoStar, in a $17 billion deal. "This new system of up to 15,000 satellites will provide ubiquitous connectivity to ordinary mobile handsets and a range of other devices and user terminals,” the company wrote.
The filing offers some additional details about SpaceX’s effort to upgrade its cellular Starlink system through the EchoStar deal. The system currently spans over 650 "direct-to-cell" Starlink satellites, which can beam connectivity to phones in cellular dead zones.
It currently supports satellite-powered text messaging and even video calls over WhatsApp. But with the EchoStar spectrum, SpaceX says it can deliver a 20-fold increase in throughput to the user for performance comparable to 4G LTE.
In the filing, SpaceX says the satellite system “will consist of a constellation of low and very low Earth orbit satellites that will leverage SpaceX’s existing ground equipment as well as add new equipment that aims to optimize performance for consumers.”
In November, the FCC cleared SpaceX to orbit some Starlink satellites as low as 340 kilometers in orbit, so long as the company coordinates with NASA. The company’s new application ]requests to orbit the next-generation cellular Starlink satellites ever closer to Earth, from between 326 kilometers to 335km, which would likely help reduce their latency when connecting to phones below.
The satellites will harness the EchoStar spectrum and partner T-Mobile’s 1.91 to 1.995GHz bands for US operations and a wide range of bands for international markets......
Musk has also said his company will need at least two years before smartphone chipsets support the EchoStar radio frequencies. This week, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell added that the company has started working on bringing the needed chipsets to the latest phones. But requiring FCC approval for the proposed constellation for the cellular Starlink service will also take time.
The proposal for the 15,000 satellite system arrives a year after SpaceX made an earlier FCC request to operate up to 29,988 satellites for home broadband-focused Starlink service with the goal of delivering gigabit speeds.