Focus: Telecom

Amazon’s Project Kuiper takes a step forward after successful tests bring the constellation closer to a commercial reality. Amazon announced Thursday that Project Kuiper has validated all systems and subsystems on board its prototype satellites, and demonstrated the first two-way video call over Amazon’s end-to-end communications network. This follows after ULA launched the first two...

Qualcomm is ending its direct-to-device relationship with Iridium because smartphone manufacturers are not adopting the satellite-compatible chips. Analysts say the price and the lack of technology standards were contributing factors.  The partnership, unveiled at CES in January, was seen as the Android answer to Apple’s emergency messaging via satellite, with the potential to connect IoT...

Avanti Communications is revamping its strategy to become more of a multi-orbit operator for the first time. The company is in talks with a leading Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) operator to procure capacity and will also be investing heavily in its managed services capabilities. Avanti announced this new strategic repositioning on Nov. 10. The company intends...

Lynk has initiated satellite-to-cell phone services in the Solomon Islands with its regional mobile operator partner Solomon Islands Limited (Bmobile), which is using Lynk’s “cell-towers-in-space” to connect its customers with voice and SMS telecommunications services. Lynk announced the service launch, which it calls “sat2phone,” on Tuesday. Bmobile currently operates in four provinces across the country:...

Telus, TerreStar Solutions and Skylo have conducted a successful trial to bring direct satellite connectivity to customers in Canada. The three companies announced details of the trial in Canada on Nov. 1. The trial paves the way to eliminate no-coverage zones and providing ubiquitous connectivity across Canada. In the trial, satellite connectivity was used to...

A Colorado hiker in distress was recently rescued, in part due to satellite technology and the partnership of Skylo, Motorola, and Bullitt Group.  A group of friends were recently hiking in Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado, when one hiker began showing signs of altitude sickness and having trouble breathing, too ill to go back down...

SpaceX is targeting direct-to-cell service that enables text messaging with the Starlink constellation in 2024, and voice and data and IoT service by 2025. SpaceX updated Starlink’s website with a new page focusing on direct-to-cell service.  SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk previously gave the target that Starlink would enter beta service for direct-to-cell with T-Mobile...

AST SpaceMobile claims it achieved a 5G connection for voice and data between an unmodified smartphone and its BlueWalker 3 satellite in space.  The company announced Tuesday that its engineers made a call from a wireless dead zone in Maui, Hawaii, to a Vodafone engineer in Madrid, Spain, using AT&T spectrum and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker...

PARIS — Direct-to-device, satellite-to-cell, NTN/non-terrestrial networks — the satellite industry hasn’t come to a consensus on what to call this type of connectivity, but players are making bold projections for its potential revenue and impact.  The term direct-to-device is too “inside baseball,” Lynk Global CEO Charles Miller said Tuesday during a panel at World Satellite Business...

Amazon’s Project Kuiper landed a deal with multinational telco Vodafone to expand 4G and 5G services to Vodafone’s customers in Europe and Africa.  The companies announced the deal Tuesday, with Vodafone pitching it as a way to bring high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved communities without the cost of traditional fiber build-out.  When Kuiper is...