SpaceX aims to compete with major US carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon by building a nationwide 5G network. Qualcomm announced that SpaceX has selected its Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure platforms for Starlink Mobile's terrestrial network. The base stations will utilize the Dragonwing QRU100 and QDU100 platforms, along with Qualcomm's commercial-grade Layer 1 software.
Starlink Mobile will deploy Massive MIMO radio units with 64 transmit and 64 receive paths (64T64R) to improve coverage and spectral efficiency. The nationwide rollout is planned for 2027, with tens of thousands of sites deployed over a multi-year agreement. The network will be multi-band and built out in several waves.
While focused on 5G, the companies describe the deal as a commercial step toward broader vision for "AI-native 6G infrastructure". Michael Nicolls, Starlink's Senior Vice President, states that phone calls should not be dropping and that Starlink is building "the first fully-integrated nationwide satellite and terrestrial network". He adds that working with Qualcomm will speed up the timeline for developing end-to-end base station architecture.
Last month, SpaceX bought 800MHz spectrum for indoor coverage, while T-Mobile's CEO ruled out letting SpaceX run on its network. Just yesterday, a report claimed SpaceX may buy Boost Mobile from EchoStar to speed up plans to become a full-fledged carrier.
Source: GSMArena · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing