Not so long ago, connecting smartphones to a satellite network was a crazy idea. But with the likes of Starlink--a SpaceX subsidiary--and Apple deciding to do just that, the future of the idea looks certain.
It also looks lucrative: the connectivity market is expected to reach $250bn by 2028 and $600bn five years after that.
OQ Technology
While Starlink has embarked on connectivity via a monstrous collection of low-orbit satellites, Apple is already offering the service for its iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, with users (since December 2022) benefiting from emergency calls, roadside assistance and satellite-based geolocation in the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Ireland.
Entering the same space is Luxembourg startup OQ Technology, which on 7 February announced a partnership with the European Space Agency for a feasibility study into direct-to-cell connectivity. The contract (named Macsat 2.0) is funded by the Luxembourg government as part of the LuxImpulse programme, which aims to foster Luxembourg and European space initiatives through the national space programme.
The aim of the project is to look into upgrading OQ’s current technology and payload, i.e., making it able connect directly to mobile phones and offer messaging and voice services using unmodified standard phones (already possible with the Internet of Things). “Connecting to phones introduces challenges in terms of link budget and Doppler effects, particularly with wider bandwidths,” says the startup. “The study will look at the requirements of such a system, OQ and RF front-end software upgrades, platform upgrades, mission analysis, antenna technology, and identifying the right suppliers for the future system. An important aspect of the study is also to identify the compatibility of the new direct-to-device frequency bands with existing devices and modules.”
Many problems remain for this sector today: the volume of data that can move between a satellite and a smartphone is limited; and the slightest cloud or tree branch can interfere with the connection.
OQ Technology successfully launched the Macsat 1.0 satellite on 8 October 2023 aboard a Vega rocket from French Guiana. The startup’s Tiger-4 satellite took to the skies on 12 June 2023, with Tiger-5 and Tiger-6 following on 11 November. Two more satellites are due to be launched in the first half of 2024, all in low orbit.
“The direct cellular connectivity market is estimated to be worth around $1trn and is growing rapidly,” said Omar Qaise, CEO of OQ (and whose initials lend the company its name). “We believe this is the new killer application in the world of satellite communications, and as OQ Technology pioneered narrowband 5G IoT satellite connectivity when we looked at it in 2016 and successfully demonstrated the technology in orbit, we are now looking to the future of direct cellular connectivity to mobile phones.”
This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.