The Federal Communications Commission has given SpaceX and T-Mobile temporary, emergency capabilities to provide their Direct-to-Cell satellite service in the wake of Hurricane Helene. In a post on Sunday, SpaceX, which owns Starlink, said that it was already broadcasting emergency alerts to cellphones on all networks in North Carolina, where the FCC said in its latest report that about 16.9% of cell sites were still out of commission.
SpaceX also said in the post that it will begin testing basic SMS texting capabilities on the T-Mobile network in North Carolina. "SpaceX's direct-to-cell constellation has not been fully deployed, so all services will be delivered on a best-effort basis," the post said.
Starlink and T-Mobile first announced Direct-to-Cell in 2022 and have been working to bring the service to rural areas that cell networks have been slow to reach with plans of rolling out this year.
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FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr praised the effort in a post on X, calling it "remarkable," and pointing out that the service wasn't scheduled to go live until additional satellites were launched. "But Starlink is giving this a shot nonetheless to help address the serious need for connectivity in these disaster areas," he wrote. "Many companies probably would have held off and waited. I thank them for choosing to do everything they can to improve communications. Every little bit helps right now."
Starlink has also been offering home internet service free for 30 days for those in affected areas. The FCC's emergency response to Helene has included extending Disaster Information Reporting System and Mandatory Disaster Response systems from North Carolina to include South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.