Australians living in metro and built-up regional areas might take for granted their mobile coverage.
But travel just a short distance from the city or town and things start to get patchy.
Depending on whose numbers you believe, the reality is that only 25-30 per cent of Australia has mobile coverage.
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That changes today, with Telstra launching “Telstra Satellite Messaging”, which allows a standard mobile phone to connect to the Telstra network via the SpaceX Starlink satellite network.
New versions of the Starlink satellites have been launched above Australia with “direct to cell” capabilities.
Telstra has been testing this for some months and today switched the service on for their customers.
Optus was the first to do a deal with SpaceX but the technology took too long to be certified, allowing Telstra to jump in and capitalise.
Vodafone is also testing this technology with an alternative satellite provider.
Today, the service is strictly limited to SMS messaging and works only with the latest Samsung Galaxy S25 with the latest software.
However, in the USA, T-Mobile is testing the service with a wide number of devices capable of connecting including some older Samsung phones and iPhones from the last 3-4 years, as well as Google devices and Motorola’s foldable razr smartphone.
Compatibility for any new devices other than the Samsung Galaxy S25 will require a software update and validation on the Telstra network though.
What this allows is really quite remarkable.
If you are a Telstra customer (with a Telstra upfront Plan), and you go outside of Telstra’s traditional mobile coverage area, as long as your phone has a direct line of sight to the sky, your phone will show “Telstra SpaceX” as the mobile network, with a Satellite icon in the signal strength area.
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From there, open your SMS app and you can send a message to any Aussie mobile number.
There is, of course, no triple-zero emergency application for this as it’s limited to SMS, but no matter what your circumstance, you can most certainly communicate with your friends and family – anywhere.
In time, likely 2026, the ability to make calls will follow, and data access is also planned, though it will be slow and mainly for messaging-style applications.
For a country like Australia with our large unpopulated landmass, this is a revolutionary change to our communication networks.
