Starlink Direct to Cell service sending emergency alert from space to cellphone

The Starlink satellite service of Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has achieved important success. America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Starlink to provide direct-to-sale service in some parts of the country. Explained in simple language, now American users will get network directly from satellite in their mobile phones and they will be able to connect with their loved ones. However, this approval has been given for areas of North Carolina, because the telecom infrastructure there has been damaged due to Hurricane Helen.

According to media reports, permission for phone network through satellite has been given to Starlink and T-Mobile and it is benefiting the people battling Hurricane Helen. Starlink has been given this opportunity due to natural disaster, but it has opened a new path in the technology of America’s telecommunication network.

SpaceX and @TMobile have been given emergency special temporary authority by the @FCC to enable @Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability to provide coverage for cell phones in the affected areas of Hurricane Helene.

The satellites have already been enabled and…

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 6, 2024

Starlink has been preparing for a long time that its satellites will be capable of providing mobile networks directly to the Earth. The company says emergency alerts are being received on all cell phones in North Carolina. More than 74 percent of the cell towers in the area have been affected due to Hurricane Helen.

What is Starlink project?

Starlink and T-Mobile are working together on a project named ‘Coverage Above and Beyond’. Its aim is to provide smartphone connectivity to T-Mobile customers everywhere. About 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers) in the US do not have any telecom operator’s network. Coverage Above and Beyond is set to become the solution to this.

T-Mobile says that SpaceX’s direct-to-sale service is not completely ready yet, but its use in North Carolina is a kind of testing, which gives people the convenience as well as the feeling that they are in difficult situations. Can also lose connection. This is also helping the rescue teams present in the area.