Claiming they will “completely eliminate cellular dead zones,” Elon Musk and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert recently announced a new project using next-generation Starlink satellites.

The program is scheduled to launch next year, and the satellites reportedly,

Will be able to communicate directly with phones, letting you text, make calls, and potentially stream video even when there are no cell towers nearby.” [i]

Though this announcement comes as news to many, Abel Avellan, CEO of AST SpaceMobile, tweeted how excited he was that Musk and Sievert focused attention on the market opportunity. SpaceMobile already has a space-based cellular broadband network with another array scheduled for launch in the coming weeks, as shown below.

BlueWalker 3 is a test satellite that SpaceMobile plans to launch in September. Several employees of AST SpaceMobile have remarked that with Musk and T-Mobile entering the playing field, they are still several years behind. One individual stated, “We think there’s going to be more big companies jump in. They have years and years to go.” [ii]

Despite the non-emergent value of these satellite connections, the technology’s primary purpose, as expressed by the CEO of Lynk Global, another company with satellite ‘cell towers,’ is,

During emergencies and natural disasters, where things like hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, or earthquakes can take down traditional cell networks. It’s reslilience. It’s instant backup working for everybody on Earth. Your phones, even though the towers are down, can communicate. This will save lives.” [iii]

T-Mobile, SpaceX’s chosen partner, has, as recently as July 2022, been the subject of breaking news headlines. The Lapsus$ hacking group previously claimed responsibility for T-Mobile’s seventh data breach in the past four years. In Aug. 2021, T-Mobile also experienced another massive data breach which included dates of birth and SSNs of former and prospective customers. T-Mobile reached a $500 million settlement in July regarding the August 2021 incident. [iv] [v]

Additionally, it was reported that SpaceX’s StarLink was ‘hacked with a $25 device,” as shown in the video below.

Knowing this, will people still feel comfortable with the newly announced T-Mobile-Musk collaboration?

References

[i] Calvin, Elon Musk wants to connect smartphones to his satellites, (Aug. 28, 2022)

[ii] Mitchell Clark, Satellite-to-phone companies are thrilled about Space and T-Mobile, actually, (Aug. 27, 2022)

[iii] Id.

[iv] Carly Page, Lapsus$ hackers targeted T-Mobile source code in latest data breach, (Apr. 22, 2022)

[v] Ashley Belanger, T-Mobile to pay $500M for one of the largest data breaches in US history [Updated], (Jul. 25, 2022)