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A year ago, Spacex launched the First set of Starlink satellites with direct connection For smartphones. Today, the Starlink Direct To Cell constellation is ready to start offering LTE coverage from space. It is just an initial offer in beta phase, but still has 10 times more reach that the coverage of any other satellite operator with the same objective. No corner without coverage. Unlike broadband Starlink satellites, Starlink Direct To Cell (DTC) function as mobile telephony towers in space, enabling messaging services and data in the corners of the planet that until now did not have cellular coverage. It is not very different from what they have been offering, through agreements with satellite operators, Apple, Huawei, Google or Samsung mobiles for emergencies, but expanding service capabilities to Keep even video calls From recondite corners of the planet. Spacex is guided and eats it. All this is possible because Spacex spears of two or three lots of Starlink satellites every week, taking advantage of the reliability of its Falcon 9 rockets partially reusable. No other company has this competitive advantage, which has allowed Elon Musk’s company to deploy about 7,000 satellites in the low orbit of the earth, 80% of the entire mass that is launched into space –and climbing. Starlink It is already a profitable business: These satellites continue to provide low latency Internet to 4.6 million customers in 118 different countries. But the roof of what Spacex can bill with Starlink will break today when The first constellation designed for Starlink DTC Between operation. The test. Spacex ha Received authorization of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States (FCC) to carry out an experimental test of Starlink DTC from January 27 to July 26, 2025. The test, says Spacex, will allow “to evaluate the performance of Direct to Cell and plan your complete deployment.” How it works. Each DTC satellite carries an Enodeb modem, the same type of technology that cell phone antennas use. The satellite is communicated directly with user phones and, then, the information to the Starlink terrestrial network forwards. DTC satellites They are integrated with the rest of the Starlink constellation through laser connections, so they do not require additional land infrastructure.The necessary transmission power to communicate with a phone is 0.2 watts, very low compared to the necessary to connect satellites. The satellites continue to offer broadband Internet while adding the cellular coverage function. And users do not need accessories to connect, because it uses standard LTE/4g technology at frequencies of the range 1.6–2.7 GHz, assigned by the operators associated with Spacex (T-Mobile in the United States, Entel in Chile and Peruetc). Spacex puts the competition in check. The goal of Starlink DTC is to take advantage of the Spacex muscle to eliminate most of “dead areas” of cell connectivity, reaching agreements with telephone operators to serve their customers when they run out of earthly signal. There are also a number of potential industrial, maritime and agricultural clients that cannot use traditional parabolic antennas, but could take advantage of this service with less latency than traditional companies that have their satellites in geostation orbit. Starlink satellites are about 550 km and Geo satellites are 36,000 km altitude. Differentiate or die. While giants like Amazon plan to launch the First operational satellites of the Kuiper project at the beginning of 2025 (and accelerate the cadence of launches when Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket be fully available), smaller companies seek to differentiate themselves so as not to compete with Spacex. In Spain, Sateliot is riding A 5G satellite constellation specially designed for the internet devices. And in the Netherlands, Telesat and the European Space Agency have successfully tested the First direct 5g satellite connection. Initiatives that can be integrated into IRIS2, the European Starlink that The EU has budgeted in 10,000 million euros. Images | Spacex In Xataka | Spacex has just made the first video call with an iPhone directly connected to a Starlink satellite