Activity, interest and investments in direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services has increased dramatically over the past two years, driven by multiple technology, regulatory, partnership and service strategies, with telcos and satellite operators such as Starlink and AST SpaceMobile at the heart of the action, and additional companies seeking to get in on the action on an almost weekly basis – witness the joint venture announcement from Viasat and Space42 earlier this week.
Following the inclusion of 3GPP-defined 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) specifications in Release 17, an increasing number of operators are forming partnerships with satellite operators with a focus on broadband connectivity and/or direct-to-device (D2D) or direct-to-cell (D2C) offerings.
