Salt wants to plug dead spots on earth with help from the sky
Published: Wednesday, Jan 3rd 2024, 15:00
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At Salt, network coverage is also getting closer in areas without cell phone antennas: in the fight against dead spots, the Salt cell phone network is being connected to Tesla founder Elon Musk's future Starlink Internet satellite network. Salt subscribers should be able to send the first text messages from almost anywhere via satellite towards the end of 2024.
To this end, Musk's company Spacex launched the first satellite on Wednesday (today) that enables direct connections with conventional 4G-capable smartphones, Salt announced on Wednesday. This is the first step on the way to network coverage even in areas with no or poor cell phone signal coverage. This applies not only in Switzerland, but also abroad.
The first tests for sending text messages via satellite took place in the USA. In preparation for the expected launch in Switzerland in 2024, the company is working closely with regulators in Switzerland and neighboring countries. These still have to approve the new connection technology via satellites.
Salt the pioneer in Europe
Last March, Salt was the first mobile provider in Europe to conclude a usage agreement with Starlink. The service will be expanded to include voice and data services in 2025.
However, the bandwidth is limited. You can send emails or Whatsapp messages, Salt's then CEO Pascal Grieder said last March when presenting the satellite plans. But it would not be enough for streaming.
In addition, the response time (latency) is much greater because the signal has to travel a much longer distance to the satellite than to a normal cell phone antenna. Grieder said that this leads to slight delays when making calls, which the customer feels.
For this reason, the satellite is only accessed when there is no cell phone antenna within range. In everyday life, there are basically no problems because the signals from cell phone antennas are stronger, Grieder said. The new satellite technology is a supplement to the cell phone network and not a replacement for it.
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