SpaceX aims for 12 launches a month as it eyes satellite-based phone service

The goal is to put many more Starlink satellites in space to support the satellite-based cell phone service, due to launch next year as a texting-only service, with voice and data reportedly coming in 2025 and beyond.

“With our 2 million users, we need that constellation refreshed. We’re also going to look at direct to cell communications with Starlink, and that’s a key feature that gets added next year with those 144 flights,” the SpaceX official was quoted as saying in the report.