Are Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites Being Used For 5G?

The More Satellites Up In The Sky. The Stronger and Omnipresent 5G Will Be.

Most think that Starlink and 5G will be competitive, however, it is more likely they will be complementary. 5G is a short-range wireless communications technology that may have nothing to do with long-distance back-haul transport. How a 5G provider thinks about moving around massive number of networked data has nothing to do with 5G. However, the size of the phased-array antenna will not be ideal for small and highly mobile (phones, tablets, cars, etc) last-mile applications, but better for fixed or very large mobile ones (planes, trucks, ships). Many 5G microcells may make use of Starlink as backhaul, rather than rely on terrestrial connectivity.

Starlink’s real limitation is that a satellite represents a fixed hardware capacity, which can really only scale by launching more satellites and replacement satellites. While it’s true that there is a significant required capital in pulling more fiber, it is still easier to get more capacity with improved hardware than on existing cable.

So, It’s very possible that a 5G microcell serving a given area may use Starlink as an uplink, rather than the cost of extending terrestrial and traditional carrier backhaul. In this case, Starlink will have a clear benefit in establishing flexible…