March 14, 2023: -On Monday, SpaceX plans to start testing its Starlink satellite-to-cell service with T-Mobile in 2023, an executive of Elon Musk’s firm stated.

“We will have to learn a lot by doing and getting out there,” the SpaceX vice president of Starlink enterprise sales, Jonathan Hofeller, stated on a panel at the Satellite of 2023 meeting in Washington, D.C.

The business of space-based data services directly to devices on the ground, such as smartphones, is widely considered to have lucrative potential, with various satellite firms partnering with terrestrial mobile network operators and device creators to fill in coverage gaps across the Earth.

SpaceX and T-Mobile stated that their partnership in August, which vows to “end mobile dead zones.”

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SpaceX has launched 4,000 Starlink satellites to date and rolled out its more powerful “V2 Mini” satellites, which it stated have quadrupled the capacity of the previous generation.

On Monday, Hofeller said that SpaceX manufactures six satellites daily at its facility near Seattle and thinks it is no longer manufacturing its last 1.5 series of Starlink satellites. He said the company is also producing “thousands” of user terminals daily.

While SpaceX is thinking of making even more extensive next-generation satellites and has “made a few” so far, Hofeller focused that launching those is “tied very closely to Starship,” the firm’s towering rocket still pending to reach space.

SpaceX has exceeded 1 million Starlink users, and Hofeller stated that having passed that milestone in December. The company recently announced that its Starlink business “had a positive cash flow quarter” in 2022, aiming for the firm to “make money” in 2023.