Mobile Connectivity

Lynk Global, which has patented satellite-to-cell technology, has filed for a commercial operator’s license with the FCC. The company announced May 25 that it expects to begin commercial service around the world next year, pending FCC approval. Last year, the company hit a technology milestone by sending the first-ever message from a satellite directly to...

MDA has contracted Analog Devices for the Beamforming Integrated Circuit (BFIC) that will be used in MDA’s phased array antenna for the Telesat Lightspeed constellation, the companies announced April 7. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.   Telesat selected MDA in February to manufacture the phased array antennas that will be incorporated into the...

The Orbit Communication Systems Orbit GX46 multi-purpose terminal has been approved for use over Inmarsat‘s Global Xpress (GX) network, the companies announced April 6. This high-throughput aviation terminal supports military, government and commercial users on the GX mobile wideband service.  GX46 is a modular, multi-role terminal that operates in the GX commercial and military Ka-bands...

Airbus Defence and Space and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) are developing a new prototype satellite laser communication terminal for the European Space Agency (ESA). The terminal, named UltraAir, will be designed to improve connectivity between aircraft and satellites in Geostationary Orbit (GEO). Initial test demonstrations are scheduled to take place at...

Space-based cellular broadband network provider AST SpaceMobile is the latest special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to go public after it completed its combination with New Providence Acquisition Corp. AST SpaceMobile common stock and warrants will now trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbols ASTS and ASTSW, respectively. Speaking on a webinar hosted by...

Lepton Global Solutions, a Kymeta company, will add Satcube’s class of extremely small Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) to the company’s global satellite network, under a deal announced March 9. Satcube Ku is a compact carry-on satellite terminal with a flat antenna the size of a large laptop.  Lepton Global will offer Satcube Ku terminals...

Rakuten Mobile and Ligado Networks have reached an MoU for commercial trials for 5G mobile private networks based on the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP). Under the MoU announced Feb. 12, the companies will define a strategy that leverages Rakuten’s ecosystem to advance a jointly developed 5G mobile private network solution and accelerate overall L-band commercial...

Over recent years we’ve seen some impressive advancements across the satcoms industry with boundaries pushed further than we once thought possible. It was recently reported that SpaceX’s satellite broadband service Starlink, is now being tested in the United Kingdom after it was issued an Earth station network license in November. This license permits Starlink to sell satellite...

Kymeta has released two new versions of its new u8 terminal — the u8 GOV and the u8 GO — in an effort to serve more government, military, and mobile end-user needs. The u8 GOV terminal variant covers the full Ku-band spectrum and comes with an embedded iDirect 950mp modem and a FIPS, 140-2 level...

Orbitare has reached a deal with Spire Global to deploy its personal satellite communication network, Spaceloop, on Spire’s nanosatellite constellation. Orbitare will send two in-orbit demonstrations of Spaceloop to orbit this year onboard Spire satellites, the company announced Monday. This partnership is an example of Spire’s Space-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription offering.  Orbitare is working to build...