SpaceX founder Elon Musk and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert on stage during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event in Boca Chica Beach, Texas, on Aug. 25, 2022.
Michael Gonzalez | Getty Images
SpaceX successfully sent text messages via Starlink satellites using T-Mobile’s network, it announced Wednesday, as Elon Musk’s company goals to bring its direct-to-device cell service to market in the approaching 12 months.
The recent test comes as major players pursue the market to attach unmodified phones on to satellites, a nascent subsector of the space economy.
Enroll here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.
SpaceX last week launched the first six Starlink satellites equipped with direct-to-device, or D2D, capabilities, after receiving authorization from the Federal Communications Commission last month to check the technology.
The corporate said it performed the texting demonstration on Monday — through which SpaceX “sent and received our first text messages to and from unmodified cell phones on the bottom to our recent satellites in space” — and declared the test “validates” that “the system works.”
![Elon Musk's Starlink business has grown quickly and so has its influence](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107200827-1677589696670-52716565315_6b27be9944_k.jpg?v=1677592851&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
The corporate said “there may be incredible demand and high interest” in adding D2D capabilities to its Starlink network, noting its partnerships with mobile operators including T-Mobile, Canada’s Rogers, Australia’s Optus and Japan’s KDDI.
SpaceX plans to start offering D2D text service this 12 months and expects to expand with voice, data and web of things services in 2025. To this point, the corporate has grown Starlink web service to a network of greater than 5,000 satellites in orbit, boasting greater than 2.3 million customers worldwide.
Several smartphone makers, service providers and satellite firms have partnered on rolling out D2D service. For instance, Apple is spending heavily to offer its “Emergency SOS with Satellite” service, which it rolled out with iPhone 14 models, because of work with satellite operator Globalstar.
Qualcomm ended its partnership with satellite communications company Iridium late last 12 months, with the latter on Wednesday pivoting to a recent effort it calls “Project Stardust.” Iridium plans to check its D2D service in 2025 and start rolling it out by 2026.
Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: