{"id":119598,"date":"2021-02-15T13:22:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T21:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/elon-musks-starlink-filings-show-plans-for-phone-service-and-low-income-web-access"},"modified":"2021-02-15T13:22:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T21:22:26","slug":"elon-musks-starlink-filings-show-plans-for-phone-service-and-low-income-web-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/elon-musks-starlink-filings-show-plans-for-phone-service-and-low-income-web-access","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink filings show plans for phone service and low-income web access"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/elon-musks-starlink-filings-show-plans-for-phone-service-and-low-income-web-access2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It appears that Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink satellite constellation is not just aiming to provide high-speed internet service. Based on recent filings to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Starlink also plans to introduce a suite of related products to its portfolio, from a dedicated phone service, emergency backup for voice calls, and more affordable internet access for low-income customers through the US government\u2019s Lifeline program.<\/p>\n<p>Details of Starlink\u2019s expanded services were mentioned in SpaceX\u2019s petition to the FCC for a designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC). According to the Elon Musk-led company, an ETC designation is required in some US states where the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/spacex-starlink-online-game-latency-test-video\/\">satellite internet program won government funding<\/a> to provide internet access to underserved areas. It is also required to receive reimbursement from the FCC\u2019s Lifeline program, which offers discounts on telecom services for low-income customers.<\/p>\n<p>Starlink\u2019s beta today only offers internet access, but in its filing, SpaceX noted that \u201cStarlink Services will provide voice telephony services, including: (a) voice-grade access to the public switched telephone network (\u2018PSTN\u2019) or its functional equivalent; (b) minutes of use for local service provided at no additional charge to end-users; \u00a9 access to emergency services; and (d) toll limitation services to qualifying low-income consumers in accordance with 47 CFR \u00a7\u00a7 54.500, et seq. Starlink Services will offer voice services on a standalone basis at rates that are reasonably comparable to urban rates.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It appears that Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink satellite constellation is not just aiming to provide high-speed internet service. Based on recent filings to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Starlink also plans to introduce a suite of related products to its portfolio, from a dedicated phone service, emergency backup for voice calls, and more affordable internet access [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2019,1490,1512,2028],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elon-musk","category-government","category-mobile-phones","category-satellites"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}