Technology breakthroughs are allowing satellites to become an option in the world of cellular communication to provide coverage in unserved areas. The growing number of partnerships between satellite providers and cellular carriers are a sure sign of interest between these distinctly separate communications industry segments, but it is still early days, according to a report by the Global mobile Satellite Association (GSA).
The potential can be seen in the 77 publicly announced partnerships between operators and satellite vendors across 43 countries and territories, identified by GSA by the end of March 2024. Currently, four partnerships are actively evaluating, testing or trialing satellite-to-cell phone technology, with another 18 planning to launch.
Three major companies are driving partnerships with terrestrial operators including SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile and Lynk, Inside Towers reported. As of April 2024, Starlink had 15 partnerships; SES and OneWeb had 10. These were followed by AST SpaceMobile with eight, Lynk with seven and Omnispace and Eutelsat with five each.
Starlink sent and received texts over a 4G/LTE connection between mobile phones via its v2mini in December 2023, according to IEEE Spectrum. Text messages to cell phones via a commercial satellite have also been sent by Huawei/China Telecom; Lynk Global; and Apple/Globalstar. Voice and data calls over 5G have been sent via an AST SpaceMobile experimental satellite.
In a recent article, IEEE Spectrum proclaimed that “Satellites are the New Cell Towers,” and that Starlink will offer text messaging to subscribers of at least eight different mobile-network operators. Voice and data coverage may become available “in the coming years,” according to Starlink’s U.S. partner T-Mobile, Inside Towers reported.
Even with all the activity, GSA noted that the uses for satellites are currently limited. “This evolving industry is taking its first step toward long-term growth, similarly to the evolution of terrestrial networks,” GSA wrote. “However, the full extent of their potential to complement terrestrial networks as well as phone services and broadband is still unclear.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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