How Elon Musk plans to kill off cellphone dead zones across the US

Musk (right) and Sievert during a news conference at the SpaceX Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, US, on Aug 25, 2022. T-Mobile is partnering with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to offer wireless phone service in remote parts of the US where coverage is spotty. — Bloomberg

The danger of getting lost in the desert or stranded at sea, unable to raise an alarm, may become a thing of the past as soon as next year near if Elon Musk’s latest project goes off without a hitch. The SpaceX chief teamed up with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert to unveil a new service that will utilise Musk’s Starlink satellites to offer cell coverage in every corner of the US.

Sievert said there were a more than half a million square miles of dead zone – areas not covered by any cellular network – across the country, and described the project as “a lot like putting a cellular tower in the sky, just a lot harder.”