Ukraine's leading mobile operator Kyivstar has signed an agreement with Starlink to introduce direct-to-cell satellite connectivity in the country, Kyivstar's parent company VEON said on Monday (Dec 30). Direct-to-cell services are connected to satellites that can beam phone signals from space directly to
Starlink sats have enough transmit power and receive gain to use normal cellular frequencies with a normal antenna on the phone side.
You might think it’s a long way to space, but a few hundred kilometres of direct line of sight to your cellphone antenna isn’t that much more to overcome compared to say, 25 km to a cell tower on the ground.
The biggest hurdle was getting a few thousand satellites into orbit so that coverage and availability is there.
Starlink sats have enough transmit power and receive gain to use normal cellular frequencies with a normal antenna on the phone side.
You might think it’s a long way to space, but a few hundred kilometres of direct line of sight to your cellphone antenna isn’t that much more to overcome compared to say, 25 km to a cell tower on the ground.
The biggest hurdle was getting a few thousand satellites into orbit so that coverage and availability is there.