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SpaceX has today revealed that Starlink’s plans for launching their own satellite-based nationwide 5G mobile broadband and calls network, which will initially launch in the USA, is to be powered by Qualcomm’s Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure solutions (i.e. the chips they intend to use in their terrestrial base stations).
At present Starlink has an overall total of c.11,190 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for both broadband and roaming mobile services – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-550km. Residential users in the UK previously paid from £40 a month for the 100Mbps unlimited data plan, which also promises uploads of c.15-35Mbps and low latency connectivity (sub-50ms). But currently you can only buy their Direct to Cell (DtC) mobile service in the UK via O2 Satellite for £3 extra per month.
However, Starlink also appear to be proceeding with plans to develop and launch their own in-house Starlink Mobile service – potentially placing them in direct competition with some of their D2D mobile operator partners (e.g. O2 in the UK). This plan partly involves deploying 5G Small Cells alongside their existing broadband routers and other kit, although they’ll need to do much more than that to achieve good signal coverage indoors as well as outdoors for everybody.