The goal is to make it feel like you are connected to a high-performance 5G (fifth-generation mobile communication) terrestrial network when consolidated to Starlink Mobile.
Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, and Michael Nichols, senior vice president (SVP) of SpaceX's Starlink institutional sector, said in a keynote at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) held in Barcelona, Spain, on the 2nd (local time) that "with satellites whose performance will be improved, even ordinary smartphones will be able to enjoy download speeds of up to 150 Mbps," and stated accordingly. They expressed an ambition to provide speeds comparable to terrestrial communications.
The two said that starting in 2027, through second-generation satellites to be launched by the super-heavy Starship spacecraft that SpaceX is developing, performance will be increased 20 times and data density up to 100 times compared with the first generation. Because Starship can deploy more than 50 satellites each time it is launched, they said they will deploy 1,200 satellites within six months. Nichols, the senior vice president, said, "Starship has the capability to place more than 50 tons of second-generation satellites into orbit, giving it overwhelming transport capacity."
Nichols said, "Starlink has currently completed the deployment of more than 650 first-generation mobile satellites and is providing service on six continents," adding, "We are conducting technology verification to expand service across Europe."
They also said Starlink users are expected to increase. Nichols said, "Starlink currently has 16 million users, and monthly active users (MAU) are 10 million," and predicted, "By the end of this year, the number of Starlink users will exceed 25 million."
They emphasized that communication consolidation is a matter of survival and also mentioned advances in direct-to-cell satellite technology. During the Los Angeles wildfires, they sent emergency alerts to 400,000 people using direct-to-cell satellite technology, and in Ukraine, they handled more than 1 million messages even when infrastructure was destroyed. Shotwell said, "About one-third of the world's population still remains in communication shadow areas," adding, "Starlink is improving quality of life for humanity by increasing access to finance, health care and education."
They drew a line regarding a competitive landscape with mobile carriers and also announced plans to build a "hybrid network" in which terrestrial base stations and satellite networks transition smoothly. Nichols said, "Satellite communication can supplement situations such as remote areas where terrestrial networks do not reach or when additional capacity is needed during disasters," adding, "We will provide 5G-performance communication everywhere terrestrial networks do not reach to close the global consolidation gap."