SpaceX selects Qualcomm to supply base station platforms for Starlink Mobile 5G network

In brief: SpaceX selected Qualcomm Technologies to supply Dragonwing cellular infrastructure platforms and Layer 1 software for its nationwide US terrestrial Starlink Mobile 5G network. Under the multi-year agreement, SpaceX plans to begin the rollout in 2027 and deploy tens of thousands of base station sites using 64T64R Massive MIMO radio units.

SpaceX has selected Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, to supply its Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure platforms for the nationwide US terrestrial Starlink Mobile 5G network, Qualcomm announced on Wednesday. Under the multi-year agreement, SpaceX plans to deploy tens of thousands of sites across the United States, with the rollout scheduled to begin in 2027. The financial details of the agreement were not made public, according to CNBC.

Base station hardware and software architecture

The terrestrial base stations for Starlink Mobile will be built on Qualcomm's Dragonwing QRU100 and QDU100 platforms alongside Qualcomm's commercial-grade Layer 1 software. According to Qualcomm, the network will use Massive MIMO radio units with 64 transmit and 64 receive paths (64T64R), a design meant to improve coverage, capacity and spectral efficiency. Within the base station architecture, the QRU100 handles the processing for those radio units, while the QDU100 takes care of latency-sensitive Layer 1 processing, and together they are meant to improve performance per watt.

Durga Malladi, executive vice president and general manager of technology planning, edge solutions and data centre at Qualcomm Technologies, told reporters that SpaceX will build the Layer 2 and Layer 3 software, up to the core network, on top of Qualcomm's foundation, according to Light Reading. Malladi also told reporters that the network will rely on large cell towers instead of small cells, and that the deal marks Qualcomm's largest contract of this kind since 3G. An earlier Qualcomm deployment for the Vietnamese operator Viettel covers a few thousand sites, according to Light Reading.

Satellite and terrestrial carrier strategy

Michael Nicolls, senior vice president of Starlink, said in a statement that Starlink is building "the first fully-integrated nationwide satellite and terrestrial network". Nicolls stated that "we shouldn't live in a time where phone calls are still dropping whether you're at home or on-the-go", and said SpaceX will use Qualcomm's expertise and platform "to accelerate our timeline to develop our base station end-to-end architecture".

The agreement follows earlier moves by SpaceX to compete with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the US, an ambition the company made clear back in August. SpaceX agreed last month to acquire nationwide spectrum holdings covering the 800 MHz band for indoor coverage, while T-Mobile's chief executive ruled out letting SpaceX run on its network. A report the previous day also claimed that SpaceX may buy Boost Mobile from EchoStar to speed up its plans to turn into a full-fledged carrier.

What happens next

The multi-band network will be built out in several waves. SpaceX has yet to identify any tower-company partners and has not given an estimate of the additional towers required, according to CNBC. Mobile carriers usually rent room on towers owned by firms including American Tower and Crown Castle.

While the agreement focuses on 5G for now, both companies described the collaboration as a commercial step toward their broader vision for "AI-native 6G infrastructure". In his statement, Malladi said the companies are "advancing 5G today, with an opportunity to lay the foundation for AI-native 6G in the years ahead."

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Sources: GSMArena.com, Quartz

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