Starlink Wants to Be Your iPhone Carrier — And It Doesn’t Need Apple’s Help
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SpaceX isn’t happy with being the backup network your iPhone uses in a dead zone anymore. The company now says outright that it wants to be your carrier.
Elon Musk is already a master of electric cars, a pioneer in space exploration and AI, and a social media communications tycoon. Now, it appears his sights are set on becoming a cellular carrier.
On Thursday, SpaceX announced a deal to acquire a chunk of nationwide low-band spectrum from Grain Management to improve service for Starlink Mobile. The deal covers up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band, and its value has reportedly been put at $8 billion, although the company didn’t share financial details.
According to SpaceX, this acquisition will enable Starlink Mobile’s signal to service devices indoors.
While Starlink Mobile’s global 2 GHz mid-band spectrum will provide high-bandwidth capacity in the United States, this new low-band spectrum will provide a coverage layer that ensures Starlink Mobile’s signal penetrates through obstacles, such as walls, and can provide service to customers’ devices even when they are in buildings. Critically, most existing mobile devices already support this underused band.
Why Low-Band Matters
Satellite service has one big weakness: it doesn’t work well indoors. Signals from orbit have trouble getting through roofs and walls. That’s why Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite tells you to step outside and point your iPhone at the sky.
Low-band spectrum is the fix. These airwaves travel farther and get through buildings better than higher frequencies, which makes them good for broad-area mobile coverage. The tradeoff is speed, and SpaceX already has that side covered. It plans to use the 2 GHz mid-band spectrum it bought from EchoStar last year for high-bandwidth capacity, while the new low-band licenses ensure your connection doesn’t drop the moment you walk indoors.
The new spectrum won’t come only from space, either. SpaceX plans to combine its satellites with cell towers on the ground to create a single network that works indoors, outdoors, and in rural dead zones. The company has previously said it would mount small cellular base stations on Starlink dishes and deploy basic ground infrastructure. Musk describes this capability as the “last piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”
The writing was on the wall. Last week, the FCC gave SpaceX permission to deploy 15,000 non-geostationary orbit satellites as part of a new direct-to-device constellation.
For iPhone owners, the most important detail is that SpaceX won’t need any special hardware from Apple — most recent iPhone models already support these frequencies and can talk to Starlink right from your pocket.
This deal is still awaiting FCC approval. The agency’s review will consider things like coordination between satellite and ground networks, interference, and other public interests. There’s no indication of how long it will take SpaceX to fully build out this network if and when it gets the green light from the FCC.
Another iPhone carrier option is seemingly on the way. We can’t wait for a launch date, plans, and pricing. Stay tuned!
