SpaceX Says Faster Starlink Cell Service Is Coming in 2027—but First It Must Clear 1 Big Hurdle

The plans are linked both to a multibillion-dollar deal with EchoStar and the success of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft.

BY CHLOE AIELLO, REPORTER @CHLOBO_ILO

SpaceX Starship lifts off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Illustration: Inc; Photo: Getty Images

Starlink is planning a faster, more powerful version of its direct-to-cell service.

During a presentation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday, SpaceX executives announced that Starlink Mobile V2 will debut in mid-2027, The Information reported. The plan is to leverage the billions of dollars worth of wireless spectrum licenses the company is buying from satellite communications provider EchoStar to offer text, data, voice calls and video calls—in other words, the types of features you would get with 5G—anywhere in the world, even in cellular service dead zones. SpaceX announced a $17 billion deal with EchoStar in September of last year, before expanding that agreement by another $2.6 billion in November, Reuters reported. 

“With Starlink Mobile V2 connectivity, mobile network operators can invest less in terrestrial networks while unlocking seamless service in remote areas and enabling total coverage everywhere for customers,” Starlink’s website reads.

One outstanding hurdle to this plan, however, is that it requires using SpaceX’s reusable Starship spacecraft to launch a new generation of satellites into space. But Starship isn’t yet ready for commercial missions. The spacecraft, while central to CEO Elon Musk’s ambitious plans for human spaceflight, Mars settlement, and this next-gen Starlink network, has not yet successfully demonstrated full reusability in test flights. That could change soon.

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SpaceX’s president Gwynne Shotwell told the Financial Times that SpaceX is planning a Starship test flight within “four to six weeks.”

Starship, which stands more than 400 feet high when paired with a Super Heavy rocket, is designed to be fully reusable. That means both the spacecraft and rocket that launches it are designed to be captured on their return to Earth and quickly redeployed without much maintenance. SpaceX has conducted 11 test flights of the Starship since 2023, the last of which took place last October. So far, the company has successfully caught the rocket, but not the spacecraft. Musk, however, expressed optimism last month on X that the third version of the rocket could be the one to achieve that milestone.

“I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” he wrote in a post on X. “Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” he added in a subsequent post.

The plans come on the heels of news that SpaceX could be mulling filing to go public as soon as this month, Bloomberg reported. That would keep the company on track for a June debut, and could seek a valuation of around $1.75 trillion, according to Bloomberg. In February, SpaceX acquired Musk’s AI venture, xAI, creating what is thought to be the world’s most valuable private company.

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