Competitor of Starlink attempting 5G cell service from orbit

The world's first base station in space will transmit 5G cellular communication to standard phones on Earth. The test will be carried out using a second commercial satellite. The project has received funding. The company received the first satellite-direct-to-phone commercial licence from the FCC. There is a patent on the ability to connect to standard 5G devices in 55 countries. Dan Dooley said that the company was years ahead of everyone else in allowing mobile network operators to extend their networks to 100% of their geographic territories. 

In 12 countries on five continents, we are testing satellite-direct-to-phone-service. We will be years ahead in 5G. Recent events have accelerated the progress of Lynk, not only technically, but also with MNO partners. Starlink is rumored to be starting to offer cellular service to T-Mobile subscribers in the US next year. The FCC has yet to approve Starlink to offer this service. Last year, the satellite-to-phone service was successfully tested across 6,000 devices in five countries. 

The same company behind Starlink launched the company's first commercial satellite. Satellite-to-phone trials will be launched by several other operators in the coming months. The company is using the company's satellite-based mobile network for engineering trials. Vodacom will be given priority access to test the network in a first phase that includes 49 countries. The mobile network operator told My Broadband that the satellite service would complement Vodacom's network by using radio frequencies that are not used in rural areas.