Focus: Telecom

Satellite direct-to-cell is an area that has dramatically increased in activity in the past year, with new demonstrations, services, and partnerships launched. The promise of satellite-to-cell is connecting unmodified cell phones directly to satellites, enabling messaging or 4G, even 5G connectivity outside of cellular networks. Some of the biggest names in consumer electronics and telecommunications have struck...

Globalstar announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Qualcomm Technologies on Tuesday, involving a portfolio of 5G private network technologies. Qualcomm Technologies plans to make select Qualcomm FSM Platforms commercially available that will work with Globalstar’s Band n53 terrestrial spectrum for private networks. Additionally, Globalstar will license its Band n53 spectrum to system integrators supporting the...

The Airbus HAPS subsidiary Aalto HAPS has signed a new deal to bring its connectivity solutions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company announced a new MoU with the stc Group, a key Saudi telco, on March 3. Stc Group will have access to Aalto’s solutions, when the company rolls out commercial services by...

Digital solutions company Globe tested Lynk’s satellite connectivity for SMS texts and emergency alerts in a trial in the Philippines, the companies announced March 2. In the trial, standard mobile phones connected directly to Lynk’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and sent and received text messages. The satellite was also able to broadcast an emergency message...

Viasat, Ligado Networks, and Skylo Technologies plan to work together to offer direct-to-devices services, the companies announced Thursday. The three companies have signed a non-binding MoU to offer direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services via Ligado’s SkyTerra satellite network.  The companies intend to launch commercial services in 2023 across a range of market segments including consumer smartphone,...

Qualcomm Technologies is teaming up with Honor, Motorola, Nothing, OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi to develop smartphones with satellite communication capabilities using its Snapdragon Satellite processor. Qualcomm made the announcement, Feb. 27 at the start of Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Snapdragon Satellite is a satellite-based two-way capable messaging solution for smartphones. It offers global...

The FCC will consider rules that allow satellite operators to operate satellites using terrestrial spectrum, in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) released Feb. 23.  The FCC said in the NPRM that this new framework would facilitate the integration of satellite and terrestrial networks. This is a major topic in the satellite industry as telcos...

Omnispace and Ligado Networks have reached an MoU to combine their licensed mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum in the L- and S-Bands for direct-to-device solutions. Under the deal announced Thursday, the companies’ collaboration would use portions of Ligado’s 40 MHz of L-band satellite spectrum in the U.S. and Canada and Omnispace’s 60 MHz of S-band...

Samsung is the latest big-name electronics manufacturer to look to develop a satellite-based capability. In a major announcement on Feb. 23, the electronics giant said it had secured standardized 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN) modem technology for direct communication between smartphones and satellites, especially in remote areas. Samsung plans to integrate this technology into the company’s...

A few short years ago, the question posed by that title would have been laughable. How could the future of the internet – with its 997 terabits per second of global capacity at the end of 2022 – depend on something as costly and bandwidth-constrained as satellite? But the idea is not as strange as...