Deutsche Telekom headquarters in headquarter in Bonn, Germany. Photo: Deutsche Telekom/Norbert Ittermann

Working together, Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm, and Skylo, completed a trial to send a text message over a Geostationary (GEO) satellite, the companies announced Tuesday. The proof-of-concept was conducted in Greece at Deutsche Telekom’s Cosmote subsidiary. 

The companies report this was the first time in Europe that an operator’s terrestrial mobile network has been integrated into a satellite network for texting based on the 3GPP Release 17 specifications. 

In the test, the SMS was sent from a device with a Cosmote SIM card via Skylo’s satellite network. The device used in the test was equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X-80 5G modem-RF system and integrated NB-NTN satellite connectivity.

Deutsche Telekom said the telco aims to bring this technology to its customers. “Our customers want to always stay connected. Direct-to-handset will be an add-on to our mobile networks allowing our customers to easily text from anywhere on their regular devices without any separate apps,” said Antje Williams, SVP Business Creation, Group Technology, Deutsche Telekom. “The successful effort of our team together with our partners to integrate the satellite and cellular network is just the beginning.” 

Skylo has emerged as a key player in the direct-to-device market. The company does not operate its own satellites, but operates as an NTN service provider working with multiple satellite operators with licensed mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum. Verizon is working with Skylo, and Google is also working with the company to provide satellite messaging on the Pixel 9. 

“The future of satellite connectivity is strong integration into carrier networks and we’re excited to partner with Deutsche Telekom which has been paving the way for these new services,” commented Skylo CEO Parthsarathi Trivedi.