FCC Approves T-Mobile, SpaceX License To Extend Coverage To Dead Zones

The FCC said it has approved a license for T-Mobile and SpaceX's Starlink to provide supplemental coverage to cover internet dead zones. Reuters reports: The license marks the first time the FCC has authorized a satellite operator collaborating with a wireless carrier to provide supplemental telecommunications coverage from space on some flexible-use spectrum bands allocated to terrestrial service. The partnership aims to extend the reach of wireless networks to remote areas and eliminate "dead zones."

T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a partnership in 2022 and in January the first set of satellites supporting the partnership was launched into low-Earth orbit with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. "The FCC is actively promoting competition in the space economy by supporting more partnerships between terrestrial mobile carriers and satellite operators to deliver on a single network future that will put an end to mobile dead zones," said FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.

Dead zone

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From Cities of Salt, Abdelrahman Munif trans. Peter Theroux, upon an oil crew's demonstration of the telephone to a sheik, the sheik remarks "Can this marvelous instrument be used to speak with all manner of absent persons, even the dead?" Approximate quote from memory.

I imagine ...

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FCC Approves T-Mobile, SpaceX License To Extend Coverage To Dead Zones

... Stephen King and Christopher Walken will be thrilled. :-)