SpaceX's Mobile Network Ambitions Could Transform Marketplace: Consultant
Skepticism about Elon Musk's ambition that Starlink become a fully integrated global carrier delivering fixed broadband and direct-to-device service using its own licensed spectrum is short-sighted, space consultant Carlos Placido wrote Wednesday. Starlink becoming a mobile network operator "could fundamentally…
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transform the mobile ecosystem." An obvious scenario is a bundling of Starlink residential fixed broadband with D2D, he said. But beyond that, "a particularly disruptive move" for SpaceX would be integrating small-cell base station capabilities onto Starlink broadband terminals and antennas, letting customers extend mobile coverage through Starlink's satellite backhaul, Placido said. "The result? A hybrid infrastructure that seamlessly integrates terrestrial and satellite networks into a next-generation mobile connectivity model."