Optus and SpaceX are pioneering a type of brand-new connectivity in Australia by working to bring mobile coverage to 100 per cent of Australia, including King Island.
Optus announced an agreement with SpaceX to use Starlink to deliver mobile-to-satellite services, starting with SMS next year and adding voice and data connectivity in 2025.
Starlink is the name of a satellite network developed by the private spaceflight company SpaceX to provide low-cost internet to remote locations.
The Optus announcement followed Telstra’s announcement of partnering with SpaceX-owned Starlink.
The Telstra relationship is aimed at the improvement of satellite-based internet services for rural homes and businesses.
The Optus deal relates to mobile coverage, specifically to eradicate blackspots and cater for mobile coverage Australia-wide.
Between now and late 2024, the Optus and SpaceX companies will “extensively” test the satellite-to-phone service.
An Optus spokesperson said: “Optus provides coverage to 98.5 p[er cent of Australia’s population.
However, mobile networks cover approximately only one-third of our land mass.
“In planning to cover 100 per cent of Australia, including Bass Strait and King Island, Optus is collaborating with SpaceX to pioneer a type of connectivity never before seen in our country.
“The service will complement our existing mobile networks, allowing customers to connect to the SpaceX Low Earth Orbit satellite-based network from their mobile phone when outside the coverage area of our terrestrial mobile network,” the Optus spokesperson said.
The Optus SpaceX collaboration aims to deliver direct-to-mobile services using SpaceX’s direct-to-mobile, Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation. One of the main objectives of the new partnership is to service areas with no existing mobile coverage.
With 4G and 5G mobile networks and satellite technology from SpaceX, the company said “You’ll be able to get coverage anywhere in Australia with a clear line of sight to the sky.”
“Our landmark collaboration will aim to provide the entirety of the continent with SMS coverage from late 2024, followed by voice and data from late 2025, so you can be more confident about connecting.”
The Optus-Starlink partnership poses a risk to the NBN Co because the same SIM cards that a phone uses to connect to a satellite could also be used by households for home internet.
That will only come into play if the capacity is high enough because home internet usage is typically much higher than mobile phone data.
It has not been announced how fast the connections will be, or their pricing, except that they will be transmitted via the last generation 4G system.
“We anticipate the service will work with most existing 4G VoLTE capable mobile handsets, meaning an upgrade should not be necessary,” Optus said.
Telstra has announced its own deal with Starlink. Telstra is set to sell broadband and voice services for rural and remote customers powered by Starlink. It is expected this will begin much sooner than Optus. However, it will only cover fixed addresses. The telco’s CEO Vicki Brady said Telstra is “the first provider in the world” to have signed such an agreement, and that it would offer services to both consumer and business customers.
She said Telstra teams had been “testing and trialling” low earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology in preparation.
“Telstra currently uses a mix of technologies to provide voice and broadband services in rural and remote Australia, including NBN fixed wireless, Telstra’s own mobile network and older copper and radio networks,” Brady said.
“Starlink will provide an additional connectivity option for people and businesses in rural and remote locations where distance and terrain make it difficult to reach with existing networks.”
Currently, Starlink customers deal directly with Starlink and either do their own setup or engage an installer to do it for them. Telstra said it will announce pricing and device details “closer to launch, which it expects to be in late 2023.”