Elon Musk has just launched a major new feature in a country with over 19 million residents, and the billionaire has even claimed that it’ll end up ‘saving lives’ of people stuck in remote locations.
While Tesla might be Elon Musk’s primary business venture, there are plenty of exciting things going on at SpaceX, even outside of the extravagant missions to the International Space Station and Mars in the future.
One of the most important businesses that Musk currently operates is Starlink, as the subsidiary of SpaceX operates a satellite internet constellation that not only provides high-speed internet and cell network connections, but is specifically designed to provide in areas that traditional services cannot.
For example, Musk recently displayed Starlink’s impressive offerings by live streaming Path of Exile 2 on a private jet – something that would otherwise prove challenging or even impossible with most other networks.
Another vital service that Starlink provides though is network services in the event of a disaster, which allowed TV stations and stranded residents to remain connected during the horrific California fires, and Musk now claims that another expansion will ‘save lives’ in a country with over 19 million residents.
Sharing the news on X, the official Starlink account announced: “Chile is the first Latin American country to make Starlink Direct to Cell available to customers! From forests to deserts, customers can stay connected in the most remove areas with satellite-to-mobile technology.”
Musk himself added in a quoted post that “this will will save lives of people in remove locations by enabling them to call for help.”
How is works is through the aforementioned Direct to Cell service, which uses partnerships forged between Starlink and various network providers across the globe to ensure that you’re never without service.
“Direct to Cell works with every LTE phone wherever you can see the sky, enabling off-the-grid connectivity on land, lakes, or coastal waters,” Starlink’s website explains, adding that its satellites “power life-saving connectivity when people need it most.”
Starlink’s Direct to Cell service allows people to maintain a network connection despite being ‘off the grid’ (Starlink)
It also reveals that “over 50 percent of the world’s land mass remains uncovered by terrestrial services,” so having that covered means that you’re never without the option to phone for help, and is a genuine game-changer in countless scenarios where you’d otherwise have no phone service.
The one ‘catch’ is that you have to be using one of the partnered networks in order to take advantage of this, with it exclusive to T-Mobile in the United States and Virgin Media O2 in the UK, for example.
Chilean residents will have to have an existing service with Entel in order to gain access to Starlink services, but thankfully it’s already the largest network provider in the country so many won’t have to do a thing.
