SpaceX took a major regulatory step in its efforts to conquer dead zones on mobile networks across the globe. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday gave SpaceX the go-ahead to operate a international telecommunications service, granting the company a Section 214 authorization that allows it to act as a licensed carrier of record for international traffic.

The order means that SpaceX can carry mobile data and calls from the United States to international destinations via an emerging satellite network.

Breaking the Carrier Chain

Previously, SpaceX relied on wireless carriers in various countries -- including T-Mobile in the U.S., KDDI in Japan and Kyivstar in Ukraine -- to handle the underlying cellular routing. With the new FCC certification, SpaceX can act as a facilities-based international provider in its own right.

The company has now started the process of setting up a unified international roaming service, its chief financial officer Bret Johnsen said, which should be able to provide "full 5G-quality service," at least in theory, to phones via Starlink Mobile.

Aimed at launching in the first half of 2028, Starlink Mobile V2 would see modifications to both SpaceX's satellites and orbital planes in order to meet the demand for cellular capacity from orbit.

100x Increase in Data Density

SpaceX says its upcoming Starlink Mobile V2 satellites will have much larger antennas and specialized silicon in order to provide a 20x improvement in the amount of bandwidth per satellite than first-gen direct-to-cell spacecraft and more than 100x the data density of their predecessors. The company is also planning to use about 65 MHz of nationwide AWS and H-band spectrum it recently acquired from EchoStar to host Starlink Mobile services.

Meanwhile, the company has begun responding to regulatory questions about its proposed "Starmind" satellites -- four-ton orbiting data centers that would use specialized AI computer hardware.

Regulatory and Environmental Safeguards Amid Rising Concerns

As satellite constellations grow in size and density in low-Earth orbit, debates have raged over potential safety issues with orbital crowding and re-entry. SpaceX laid out the survivability risks of its large Starmind satellites in a 12-page response to the FCC in which it explained how individual pieces of the vehicles would be able to withstand the forces of atmospheric re-entry.

While fragments of the thermal control system, solar panels or propulsion systems on Starmind satellites could survive re-entry, none would hit the ground with more than 15 joules of energy, well below the level of concern for causing casualties.

SpaceX is also working with telecom regulators in individual countries to secure the right to use spectrum in each nation where Starlink Mobile V2 is expected to launch in 2027.

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