{"id":233723,"date":"2025-10-30T09:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T09:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233723\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T09:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T09:24:08","slug":"first-uk-phones-to-get-satellite-connectivity-in-signal-blackspots-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233723\/","title":{"rendered":"First UK phones to get satellite connectivity in signal blackspots announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The service will only work with messaging, maps and location apps. O2 says this is because Starlink&#8217;s current satellites do not support calls, although the next generation of them will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Calls made via WhatsApp, which uses data rather than phone signal, may work though. O2 intends to trial this before the service launches to the public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The satellites will effectively act like &#8220;phone masts in the sky&#8221;, said Luke Pearce from analyst CCS Insight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;In today&#8217;s world, connectivity is no longer optional,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Whether it&#8217;s emergency SOS in life-saving situations or keeping a software-defined vehicle online, people now expect constant access.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Software-defined vehicles can receive over-the-air updates to improve their performance and features, but need internet connections to be able to do so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Satellite is the only technology that can truly close the coverage gap across mountains, oceans and rural areas,&#8221; Mr Pearce added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The service will only work with messaging, maps and location apps. O2 says this is because Starlink&#8217;s current&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-233723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}