Interest in cellular non-terrestrial network technologies and business opportunities has been reflected in the amount of activity in this space in recent years, as 3GPP 5G standards efforts have built momentum toward the convergence of satellite and cellular networks, enhancing the potential for truly ubiquitous (and ultimately high-speed) connectivity.
NTN was one of the major talking points at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and again a few weeks later at the Satellite Show 2024 in Washington DC. Mobile network operators, device makers and chipset companies are forming partnerships, developing products and, in some cases, already rolling out services, with more expected to get involved this year.
But space remains expensive and technically challenging, and while there are many incumbents on both sides, many of the players driving NTNs are start-ups or relatively young or small companies, and even some of the incumbents have already had failures with NTNs.
Here is part two of our overview of the major partnerships and services we’ve disclosed, the deals, recent development progress, and some missteps along the way. (Read part one here.)
-On the regulatory front, the Federal Communications Commission last month unanimously approved a new rules framework for satellite-based cellular communications to end-user devices using terrestrial spectrum, or “Supplemental Coverage from Space” (SCS). The SCS framework allows satellite operators working with terrestrial service providers to apply for FCC authorization to operate space stations in spectrum currently allocated for wireless service, as long as they meet certain conditions, such as having a spectrum lease in place. Once authorized, satellite operators will be able to provide service within a specific geographic area to MNOs’ customers who are outside of terrestrial network coverage. However, there are some issues with 911 emergency calls that need to be addressed. Currently, the FCC requires terrestrial MNOs to route all 911 calls made over SCS to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) using location-based routing or emergency call centers, and the agency has announced additional rulemaking seeking input to ensure SCS calls are routed correctly.
-Lynk Global completed its merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in February, which is expected to enable the company to raise additional capital. According to congressional testimony by Lynk co-founder and COO Margo Deckard, the company has commercial cell towers in space, including the world’s first 5G-enabled payload, as of January 3. Deckard told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that Lynk has signed 26 commercial contracts to date, valued at more than $2.5 billion, provides services in 41 countries, and is on track to launch international commercial service this month.
“Our initial service will be text messaging, but as we build out our satellite constellation we plan to support broadband services ubiquitous that can connect directly to standard mobile phones,” she said.
Lynk expects the merger with the SPAC to close in the second half of 2024.
-Omnispace has signed an agreement with MTN to provide services in 19 African countries. Under the agreement, Omnispace will develop a “next-generation, standards-based mobile and IoT network designed to serve the MTN market.” Meanwhile, MTN will use Omnispace’s current satellites to test and demonstrate capabilities and use cases. Meanwhile, the two companies will partner to test existing technologies and demonstrate capabilities and use cases using Omnispace’s in-orbit satellites. Omnispace said in February that it now has market access to reach more than 735 million people in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. “Working with partners with spectrum access in the 3GPP 5G NTN bands, Omnispace is ready to provide access in all major international markets as part of the next-generation global 5G NGSO system,” the company said.
-To coincide with the Satellite 2024 show, Gatehouse Satcom and cellular private network technology provider Druid Software signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at jointly developing a “fully integrated, out-of-the-box” NTN solution for satellite providers, combining Gatehouse Satcom’s satellite radio access network with Druid’s core network platform. The two are “customized to enable robust NTN services compliant with the latest 3GPP Release 17 standards.”
Druid also recently joined the Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA), which launched in February 2024. The group is primarily made up of Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum holders and wants to foster the development of direct-to-device connections over L-band and S-band spectrum already allocated and licensed to MSS.
-NTN demos were rampant at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Various booths around the show featured chipsets from Qualcomm and MediaTek, with demos of 5G non-terrestrial networks across NB-IoT, 5G and 5G-Advanced. There was also news from companies like Ceva and Arm about accelerating the development of 5G NTN chips. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency and GSMA Foundry announced a partnership that includes funding of up to €15 million for technical challenges related to NTN, access to labs, and GSMA training courses to get people familiar with both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks and work on “ecosystem integration.” The show’s Satellite and NTN Summits were standing room only (you can rewatch the broadcast here and read RCR’s coverage here).
– On a bit of a digression, the Canadian government last week announced it would increase investment in a previously announced deal with Telesat to support Telesat’s LightSpeed LEO constellation, which is expected to provide broadband access to Canadians. Satellites have long provided mobile backhaul to remote cellular sites, but they also supported limited bandwidth as additional event capacity or as part of disaster recovery. However, LEO constellations that can support higher speeds also offer new possibilities for extending 5G mobile or fixed broadband (Verizon said it was interested in such an arrangement with Amazon’s Project Kuiper for high-speed cellular backhaul in 2021).
For LightSpeed, LEO constellations could eventually expand the reach of 5G by providing backhaul and trunking services in rural areas that don’t have sufficient fiber or backhaul resources to support 5G. Brazilian telecommunications operator TIM tested LightSpeed’s suitability for 5G backhaul last year and concluded that the service levels LightSpeed provides were acceptable in terms of latency and reliability to support terrestrial 5G services.
A satellite carrying a regenerative payload (one of two NTN architectures defined by 3GPP) is scheduled to be launched this year by Lockheed Martin as part of the 5G.MIL network solution for the US Department of Defense. In a final lab demonstration in October 2023, Lockheed showed off what it calls the “industry’s first fully regenerative advanced 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite base station.” In a live hardware-in-the-loop test environment, the NTN base station “connected with prototype NTN user equipment to perform high-speed data transfers,” Lockheed said, noting that the satellite is “compliant with 3GPP Release 17 and developed in anticipation of Release 18 and pre-19 regeneration specifications.” The defense vendor added: “During a simulated satellite orbital pass, the satellite base station running on space-hardened flight hardware and ground user equipment successfully connected and transferred data, including live video streaming.”
Lockheed used Accelacom’s 5G NTN Layer 1 PHY solution and Radisys’ 5G NTN Layer 2/3 and 5G Standalone Core software. According to the company, advanced 5G satellite base stations are “the linchpin of Lockheed Martin’s vision to deliver global 5G connectivity.” The company has been investing in hybrid base stations for three years, and the satellites will use a full 5G NR RAN software stack, RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), and 5G SA core running on space-certified flight hardware flown on TacSat, and will be reprogrammable in orbit using a software-defined satellite architecture, which can be configured in a split architecture with a ground control unit (CU) and a satellite distributed unit (DU).
“Our satellite base station is operational hardware, and we’re excited about the next steps,” said Joe Rickards, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of connectivity, transportation and access. Lockheed will self-fund a launch to put a renewable payload into orbit in 2024 “to bring 5G capabilities to the final stage and demonstrate our ability to connect the planet.”
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