Telstra and Musk ink deal to bring texting to Australia’s dead zones

Major telco Telstra has signed a new deal with Elon Musk’s satellite network Starlink, allowing customers to send a text message from almost anywhere in Australia – including rural and regional dead zones.

Under the deal announced on Thursday, Telstra customers will be able to use Musk’s low-earth orbit satellites to communicate with other users across Australia. It marks a new foray into the direct-to-handset technology for Telstra, whose network covers all but 0.3 per cent of the Australian population.

Telstra’s global network and technology executive, Shailin Sehgal, said the technology would be “particularly relevant” for customers in regional and remote parts of Australia without a reliable mobile connection.

“Technology is always evolving, and we’re committed to staying at the forefront of innovation,” Sehgal said.

“Australia’s landmass is vast and there will always be large areas where mobile and fixed networks do not reach, and this is where satellite technology will play a complementary role to our existing networks.”

Optus announced a similar deal with Starlink in 2023, with a promise to launch text messaging capability from late 2024, with voice and data services said to be available from late 2025. However, Optus’ text messaging offer is yet to launch and the company has not said when these services will come online.

On Thursday an Optus spokesperson said the company is conducting local testing with SpaceX and “re-evaluating our timelines to deliver this product”.

Telstra customers with an iPhone 14 or later model will be able to access the technology, which can be used wherever there is a direct line of sight to the sky. Thick tree canopy or a vehicle cover will block access, though cloud cover shouldn’t pose an issue.