Lynk Global (formerly Ubiquitilink)

[Danderman]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/space-startup-aims-to-connect-satellites-directly-with-cellphones-11550979518

[catdlr]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/space-startup-aims-to-connect-satellites-directly-with-cellphones-11550979518

Paywall.

[Tywin]

UbiquitiLink has built the first cell tower in space. Soon, everyone in the world will be connected, everywhere, with just the phone in their pocket. No new hardware required. No new software needed. The UbiquitiLink network will enable everyone with a standard mobile phone to stay connected … everywhere.

Today, only about 25 percent of the world’s landmass is served by cell towers. The rest of the land—and all of the world’s oceans—have no coverage.

The 5.2 billion people with mobile phones often have no service because they are outside the range of a cell tower.

Another 2.5 billion people, many in remote areas without cellular networks, don’t even have a mobile phone.

When disaster strikes, first responders are frequently hampered by inoperable terrestrial communications.

This is about to change. UbiquitiLink is creating a global constellation of satellites to connect the phones in our pockets anywhere on the planet, all of the time.

https://www.ubiquitilink.com/

[Danderman]

The big difference with Ubiquitilink is that customers don't need a special telephone, or some sort of interface device.

[Asteroza]

The only way you could reasonably pull this off right now without too much handwaving would be VLEO sats like those proposed by Tethers Unlimited, where a SpiderFab builds out the monster antenna array of big hex panels forming a shallow dish.


Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

There's a small picture of the TUI sat at the end of a recent FISO telecon presentation on the last page which shows the reverse dish of hex panels.

http://fiso.spiritastro.net/telecon/Hoyt_12-13-17/

WPO patent regarding OrbWeaver and GlobalFi

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/15/b0/ab/360ff704471f16/WO2017123677A1.pdf

A pure 5G celltower in space with massively parallel beamforming would be pretty impressive...

[plugger.lockett]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/space-startup-aims-to-connect-satellites-directly-with-cellphones-11550979518

Paywall.

Outline.com
https://outline.com/dHhxE2

[gongora]

Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

UbiquitiLink says they will need to orbit thousands of satellites for full coverage.

[Asteroza]

Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

UbiquitiLink says they will need to orbit thousands of satellites for full coverage.

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

[Lar]

thousands of birds is good news for some launch provider or another, if the backing exists. If this follows trend, it won't be SpaceX because Starlink. But maybe, how much do these spaces overlap if they can get it to work?

[TrevorMonty]

Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

UbiquitiLink says they will need to orbit thousands of satellites for full coverage.

For txt intermttent coverage eg once hour don't need that many. This will be initial market. No reason it can't support remote sensing equipment much same as IoT constellations.
Continous voice conversations will need a large constellation. Even voice could be done incrementally, eg 1hour window every 24hours. Phone home conversations just need to be planned.

[WindnWar]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/25/ubiquitilink-advance-means-every-phone-is-now-a-satellite-phone/

According to that article the initial plan is to all 5 minutes of coverage every hour, then to build up the constellation until it's 24/7 coverage. 5 minutes every hour though would work well for lost hiker etc, app could tell you how long till your window opens so you can save battery until then. I wonder how weather will impact it? Only modification that was needed was for doppler timings to be increased as they were limited to 30km originally in the phone wireless chips.

Interesting concept. First test sats on orbit.

[Danderman]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/25/ubiquitilink-advance-means-every-phone-is-now-a-satellite-phone/

According to that article the initial plan is to all 5 minutes of coverage every hour, then to build up the constellation until it's 24/7 coverage. 5 minutes every hour though would work well for lost hiker etc, app could tell you how long till your window opens so you can save battery until then. I wonder how weather will impact it? Only modification that was needed was for doppler timings to be increased as they were limited to 30km originally in the phone wireless chips.

Interesting concept. First test sats on orbit.

Nothing in the phone needs to be altered in the Ubiquitilink system, and Doppler is no problem.

[Danderman]

Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

UbiquitiLink says they will need to orbit thousands of satellites for full coverage.

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

I wonder how TUI would get access to spectrum to communicate with cellphones.

[WindnWar]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/25/ubiquitilink-advance-means-every-phone-is-now-a-satellite-phone/

According to that article the initial plan is to all 5 minutes of coverage every hour, then to build up the constellation until it's 24/7 coverage. 5 minutes every hour though would work well for lost hiker etc, app could tell you how long till your window opens so you can save battery until then. I wonder how weather will impact it? Only modification that was needed was for doppler timings to be increased as they were limited to 30km originally in the phone wireless chips.

Interesting concept. First test sats on orbit.

Nothing in the phone needs to be altered in the Ubiquitilink system, and Doppler is no problem.

I don't get that, as it states they had to modify the wireless stack in the phones in the article but then later says they don't need to modify the phones. Did they move the mods to just the sat side?

Or maybe I'm not understanding what they are describing.

[Lar]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/25/ubiquitilink-advance-means-every-phone-is-now-a-satellite-phone/

According to that article the initial plan is to all 5 minutes of coverage every hour, then to build up the constellation until it's 24/7 coverage. 5 minutes every hour though would work well for lost hiker etc, app could tell you how long till your window opens so you can save battery until then. I wonder how weather will impact it? Only modification that was needed was for doppler timings to be increased as they were limited to 30km originally in the phone wireless chips.

Interesting concept. First test sats on orbit.

Nothing in the phone needs to be altered in the Ubiquitilink system, and Doppler is no problem.

I don't get that, as it states they had to modify the wireless stack in the phones in the article but then later says they don't need to modify the phones. Did they move the mods to just the sat side?

Or maybe I'm not understanding what they are describing.

Maybe they are not modifing the HARDWARE of the phones but when their app is installed (presumably they have an app) they have a custom stack or some updates to some components in the stack or something similar (a SOFTWARE change)    I'm confused too but ?

[Asteroza]

Assuming there isn't a hardware change needed (baked in doppler timings, etc), then it's either modifying the firmware of the chip (so talk to Qualcomm basically)(usually a binary blob loaded by the OS into the chip on boot), or if there are knobs for messing with it at the OS level, so one would modify the OS software radio stack settings. As commodity hardware gradually goes more to software defined architectures (so called SDR radios), the hardware is designed for a lot of flexibility, and limits are basically only imposed due to physical limits of the chips (frequency range for example) and limits in firmware or the SDR software stack level (such as regulatory transmit power limiters).

For reference, cheap chinese DTSB receiver USB dongles, designed for digital terrestrial television reception, were found to have unlocked firmware that turned them into fairly wideband scanners (and sometimes could even force transmission as well). The whole GPS spoofing thing that's come into vogue in the information security industry is a result of the flexibility of SDR systems.  For reference, two antivirus researchers in china, using SDR's and open source SDR software like GNU radio, and open GPS documents, were able to successfully spoof GPS in about a month of hobby time, despite no previous RF or serious EE experience.

For cellphones, which are generally more locked down however, whether the knobs to configure the radio are sufficient at the OS level will be the issue. Google (for android) provides some carrier profile services, so a satellite cellphone carrier could request to have the necessary profile with special settings delivered that way for general availability. Apple does their own carrier profile delivery, so a similar request would be necessary for the iPhone. General apps usually can't fiddle with low level settings that much, only read those settings. For unlocked/rooted android phones, the OS may be open but they still load proprietary binary firmware blobs for the radio chips, which are usually either compiled by the chip manufacturer, or the phone maker in a special closed build environment not open to the public (to protect source code provided by the chip maker). If the blob is fairly unrestricted (or one somehow found a fully unrestricted blob and swapped it), then there may be some possibilities there. But, based on the open information, the probability is a custom carrier profile. Which might be a problem for older dumbphones which don't have the software hooks for this, but at this stage, the odds of a true 5G dumbphone existing are low, and many if not most 4G LTE dumbphones are really stripped down android phones with the touch interface removed.

I would find it hard to believe that they would operate a 3G system, and 4G LTE might be pushing it despite the large addressable market, as the protocol and spectrum usage by 5G is far better than 4G LTE. 4G is unfortunately a fairly wide range of supported transmission types and speeds, so saying you support 4G means weighing yourself down with a lot of legacy cruft. There is a secondary concern regarding VoLTE, which is where the carrier and protocol support voice operations using an all data VoIP system running over the data channels, rather than separate voice specific channels which must be reserved for voice use. Running VoLTE means the entire system is pure data channel based which improves spectral efficiency, but also requires handsets that support VoLTE (though most handsets on sale now do support it). VoLTE has some quirks though if the carrier runs a mixed environment (call handoff between VoLTE and non-VoLTE towers becomes complex). Timing wise, by the time they launch this minimum constellation 5G phone availability should be pretty good though (perhaps enough to offset the loss of not supporting 4G LTE).

[saliva_sweet]

Is this a hoax? I don't think a cellphone has enough power to talk to a satellite. At least not according to this:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/far-can-cell-tower-cellphone-pick-up-signal-32124.html

[Danderman]

Is this a hoax? I don't think a cellphone has enough power to talk to a satellite. At least not according to this:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/far-can-cell-tower-cellphone-pick-up-signal-32124.html

UBL has patented technology that allows a cellphone to communicate with UBL satellites.

Cellphones do not have to be modified in the operational constellation. I believe there were modifications to SIM cards for previous tests for convenience of testers.

There is no UBL app required for communications with satellites, but an app, or set of routines could have use in the system down the road.

[niwax]

Is this a hoax? I don't think a cellphone has enough power to talk to a satellite. At least not according to this:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/far-can-cell-tower-cellphone-pick-up-signal-32124.html

Cellphones have plenty of power to talk to satellites, that's how SIGINT satellites in GEO work. They're not ordinarily designed to make it easy to talk to one, though. I assume that's what the modifications in their software are about, they might make the phone ignore that it's not receiving a strong, timely response from a tower.

[Danderman]

Is this a hoax? I don't think a cellphone has enough power to talk to a satellite. At least not according to this:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/far-can-cell-tower-cellphone-pick-up-signal-32124.html

Cellphones have plenty of power to talk to satellites, that's how SIGINT satellites in GEO work. They're not ordinarily designed to make it easy to talk to one, though. I assume that's what the modifications in their software are about, they might make the phone ignore that it's not receiving a strong, timely response from a tower.

To be clear, UBL does not require any modification to the cell phone’s software for basic communications.

[Asteroza]

Lockheed now is crowing about a 4G LTE over satellite system...

Lockheed Martin Develops World-First LTE-Over-Satellite System

[gongora]

Lockheed now is crowing about a 4G LTE over satellite system...

Lockheed Martin Develops World-First LTE-Over-Satellite System

But in the Lockheed system the phones aren't talking directly to the satellites.

[gongora]

0646-EX-ST-2019
Flying another payload on the next Cygnus flight.  Again it will be sent up as cargo and then mounted to the outside of the hatch by the astronauts before Cygnus leaves ISS.

[Danderman]

My understanding is that the next mission will be for 6 months.

[Danderman]

Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

UbiquitiLink says they will need to orbit thousands of satellites for full coverage.

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

Hold on a minute. How can this company provide hourly coverage with 27 satellites?

[Asteroza]

Hrm, UbiquitiLink says phase one is 24-36 sats at 500km. Tethers Unlimited GobalFi direct-smartphone broadband (DTSB) system says 27 sats for "Cell Towers In Space"

UbiquitiLink says they will need to orbit thousands of satellites for full coverage.

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

Hold on a minute. How can this company provide hourly coverage with 27 satellites?

For GlobalFi, 3 sats per orbital plane, 9 orbital planes  with poor high latitude coverage perhaps? I don't have a working copy of STK handy at the moment to check the veracity of that, but if Ubiquitilink is proposing 24 on the low end for initial IoT capability, 27 is probably not an unreasonable number.

[Danderman]

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

Hold on a minute. How can this company provide hourly coverage with 27 satellites?

For GlobalFi, 3 sats per orbital plane, 9 orbital planes  with poor high latitude coverage perhaps? I don't have a working copy of STK handy at the moment to check the veracity of that, but if Ubiquitilink is proposing 24 on the low end for initial IoT capability, 27 is probably not an unreasonable number.

Let’s say we are in the Real World. How is GlobalFi going to put 3 satellites in an orbital plane, and then fill out another 8 evenly spaced planes? Give me some sort of launch manifest for that configuration.....

[Asteroza]

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

Hold on a minute. How can this company provide hourly coverage with 27 satellites?

For GlobalFi, 3 sats per orbital plane, 9 orbital planes  with poor high latitude coverage perhaps? I don't have a working copy of STK handy at the moment to check the veracity of that, but if Ubiquitilink is proposing 24 on the low end for initial IoT capability, 27 is probably not an unreasonable number.

Let’s say we are in the Real World. How is GlobalFi going to put 3 satellites in an orbital plane, and then fill out another 8 evenly spaced planes? Give me some sort of launch manifest for that configuration.....

I have no skin in the game here, but GlobalFi sats appear to make use of SpiderFab on-orbit assembly to assemble the phased array hex dome at a minimum. So if the bus mass for 3 sats and a SpiderFab are appropriate, you could potentially mount the SpiderFab and sat parts on a RocketLabs Photon bus and Launch via Electron, but that would then require 9 launches. At roughly $5 million a launch, you're looking at $50 million for the set launch.

The alternative is a single Falcon 9 launched Spiderfab host bus with some maneuver capability (something in the vein of a mobile ESPA ring like SHERPA perhaps?) carrying the parts for 27 sats. Since on-orbit assembly is not quick, you can take the opportunity to use the time required for orbital plane phasing to manufacture one plane of sats, release 3 and repeat, until all 9 planes are filled. The partial existence proof is 60 flat packed StarLink sats on one Falcon 9. If you cut that number in half, and effectively design a parts carrier bus host for Spiderfab, that should be roughly in the same mass range. Launch costs would be in a similar range?

There's the dev costs for the mobile parts carrier that hosts Spiderfab though. Photon is somewhat a ready made bus for this purpose for riding on Electron, and SHERPA might be appropriate considering the non-propulsive versions have flown on Falcon 9.

To be clear, GlobalFi also was meant by TUI to show the superiority of Spiderfab manufactured sats that need extremely large antennas and solar arrays in a compact launch package that can not be affordably done with existing deployment mechanisms (and without the deployment mechanism design penalties). 9 plane orbital phasing with one Spiderfab host would take a while though and puts all your eggs in one basket if Spiderfab doesn't live up to the hype. Splitting the deployment to multiple Photons would let you iron out some wrinkles (hell, using a Photon as an initial test/dev sat, then do the full deployment push on Falcon 9 is also reasonable to raise confidence in Spiderfab).

[Danderman]

GlobalFi is in the same boat. 27 sats is for hourly coverage (IoT/alert oriented) I believe, according to the documents available

Hold on a minute. How can this company provide hourly coverage with 27 satellites?

For GlobalFi, 3 sats per orbital plane, 9 orbital planes  with poor high latitude coverage perhaps? I don't have a working copy of STK handy at the moment to check the veracity of that, but if Ubiquitilink is proposing 24 on the low end for initial IoT capability, 27 is probably not an unreasonable number.

Let’s say we are in the Real World. How is GlobalFi going to put 3 satellites in an orbital plane, and then fill out another 8 evenly spaced planes? Give me some sort of launch manifest for that configuration.....

I have no skin in the game here, but GlobalFi sats appear to make use of SpiderFab on-orbit assembly to assemble the phased array hex dome at a minimum. So if the bus mass for 3 sats and a SpiderFab are appropriate, you could potentially mount the SpiderFab and sat parts on a RocketLabs Photon bus and Launch via Electron, but that would then require 9 launches. At roughly $5 million a launch, you're looking at $50 million for the set launch.

The alternative is a single Falcon 9 launched Spiderfab host bus with some maneuver capability (something in the vein of a mobile ESPA ring like SHERPA perhaps?) carrying the parts for 27 sats. Since on-orbit assembly is not quick, you can take the opportunity to use the time required for orbital plane phasing to manufacture one plane of sats, release 3 and repeat, until all 9 planes are filled. The partial existence proof is 60 flat packed StarLink sats on one Falcon 9. If you cut that number in half, and effectively design a parts carrier bus host for Spiderfab, that should be roughly in the same mass range. Launch costs would be in a similar range?

There's the dev costs for the mobile parts carrier that hosts Spiderfab though. Photon is somewhat a ready made bus for this purpose for riding on Electron, and SHERPA might be appropriate considering the non-propulsive versions have flown on Falcon 9.

To be clear, GlobalFi also was meant by TUI to show the superiority of Spiderfab manufactured sats that need extremely large antennas and solar arrays in a compact launch package that can not be affordably done with existing deployment mechanisms (and without the deployment mechanism design penalties). 9 plane orbital phasing with one Spiderfab host would take a while though and puts all your eggs in one basket if Spiderfab doesn't live up to the hype. Splitting the deployment to multiple Photons would let you iron out some wrinkles (hell, using a Photon as an initial test/dev sat, then do the full deployment push on Falcon 9 is also reasonable to raise confidence in Spiderfab).

A bit of hand waving there.

How exactly would a GlobalFi spacecraft “phase” from one plane to the next?

[ZChris13]

A bit of hand waving there.

How exactly would a GlobalFi spacecraft “phase” from one plane to the next?

Earth has an equatorial bulge that causes plane changes over time at different rates for different altitudes

[Danderman]

A bit of hand waving there.

How exactly would a GlobalFi spacecraft “phase” from one plane to the next?

Earth has an equatorial bulge that cause plane changes over time at different rates for different altitudes

Exactly.

So, how to move GlobalFi satellites from one plane to another? What’s the initial orbital altitude, what’s the transfer orbit altitude? How long to move from one plane to another via precession?

The difference between planes is 40 degrees. Unless the difference in altitude between the working orbit and the transfer orbit is hundreds of kilometers, using precession to change the plane by 90 degrees may take much more than a year.

And then there is the question of maneuvering from the transfer orbit to the working orbit.

Forgetting about all that stuff about in orbit assembly of satellites, my opinion is that a constellation of 9 planes is probably going to require 9 launches from the ground. Launches of only 3 satellites on one rocket are only economically viable if the satellites are large, unless there are other passengers who want to go to your initial orbit. Is GlobalFi launching large payloads?

I am trying to get away from the hand waving and instead look at the Real World issues of covering the planet with 27 satellites.

[Asteroza]

A bit of hand waving there.

How exactly would a GlobalFi spacecraft “phase” from one plane to the next?

Earth has an equatorial bulge that cause plane changes over time at different rates for different altitudes

Exactly.

So, how to move GlobalFi satellites from one plane to another? What’s the initial orbital altitude, what’s the transfer orbit altitude? How long to move from one plane to another via precession?

The difference between planes is 40 degrees. Unless the difference in altitude between the working orbit and the transfer orbit is hundreds of kilometers, using precession to change the plane by 90 degrees may take much more than a year.

And then there is the question of maneuvering from the transfer orbit to the working orbit.

Forgetting about all that stuff about in orbit assembly of satellites, my opinion is that a constellation of 9 planes is probably going to require 9 launches from the ground. Launches of only 3 satellites on one rocket are only economically viable if the satellites are large, unless there are other passengers who want to go to your initial orbit. Is GlobalFi launching large payloads?

I am trying to get away from the hand waving and instead look at the Real World issues of covering the planet with 27 satellites.

I feel like somehow I've turned into a GlobalFi salesman, when this is supposed to be a Ubiquitilink thread...

The thesis that only large sats are economically viable for launch as the primary customer as a multi-sat launch without ridealongs is increasingly being upended by visible progress in hardware and existence proofs, so I don't agree with that statement. The time spent phasing will be non trivial for an all-up launch unless some kind of trick is used.

TUI was likely baselining their Hydros thruster for GlobalFi, which is a small electric thruster using water propellant as a plasma thruster. This would give a fair amount of agility to the sats by that alone to cover orbit raising from the initial build orbit, but also opens up opportunities for refueling.

Starlink sats for the first commercial version are stated to be 227 Kg. Iridium NEXT are 860 Kg, and OneWeb are 150 Kg, Telesat's prototype sat was 70 kg. With Electron/Photon, you are looking at around 150 Kg for raw payload attached to Photon. I have not seen open literature on the expected mass of GlobalFi sats.

TUI says their OrbWeaver demo, which would be similar to GlobalFi sats being built by Spiderfab, would be 320kg, not including the aluminum ESPA ring which it would consume to manufacture the reflector antenna. It's not entirely clear what the mass breakdown is for actual satellite versus Spiderfab, especially in comparison to OrbWeaver which intends to build only a single sat, as well as other components which could be replaced by services from the Photon bus. The stated mass suggests that the OrbWeaver iteration at least would be unsuitable for Electron, and the existence proof of Telesat's prototype would suggest that making a 45 kg sat (which might allow a 3 sat launch with Spiderfab on Photon) would be somewhat difficult. That could force the number of launches on Electron up to 27 if you can effectively only fit something OneWeb class in mass for a single sat due to component mass (thus effectively emulating OrbWeaver at half it's mass), and you would be looking at something near 4.1 metric tons for an all up launch.

I haven't seen any open literature on the mass of Ubiquitilink sats yet, so can't really say anything constructive about mass/design.

[Danderman]

A bit of hand waving there.

How exactly would a GlobalFi spacecraft “phase” from one plane to the next?

Earth has an equatorial bulge that cause plane changes over time at different rates for different altitudes

Exactly.

So, how to move GlobalFi satellites from one plane to another? What’s the initial orbital altitude, what’s the transfer orbit altitude? How long to move from one plane to another via precession?

The difference between planes is 40 degrees. Unless the difference in altitude between the working orbit and the transfer orbit is hundreds of kilometers, using precession to change the plane by 90 degrees may take much more than a year.

And then there is the question of maneuvering from the transfer orbit to the working orbit.

Forgetting about all that stuff about in orbit assembly of satellites, my opinion is that a constellation of 9 planes is probably going to require 9 launches from the ground. Launches of only 3 satellites on one rocket are only economically viable if the satellites are large, unless there are other passengers who want to go to your initial orbit. Is GlobalFi launching large payloads?

I am trying to get away from the hand waving and instead look at the Real World issues of covering the planet with 27 satellites.

I feel like somehow I've turned into a GlobalFi salesman, when this is supposed to be a Ubiquitilink thread...

The thesis that only large sats are economically viable for launch as the primary customer as a multi-sat launch without ridealongs is increasingly being upended by visible progress in hardware and existence proofs, so I don't agree with that statement. The time spent phasing will be non trivial for an all-up launch unless some kind of trick is used.

TUI was likely baselining their Hydros thruster for GlobalFi, which is a small electric thruster using water propellant as a plasma thruster. This would give a fair amount of agility to the sats by that alone to cover orbit raising from the initial build orbit, but also opens up opportunities for refueling.

Starlink sats for the first commercial version are stated to be 227 Kg. Iridium NEXT are 860 Kg, and OneWeb are 150 Kg, Telesat's prototype sat was 70 kg. With Electron/Photon, you are looking at around 150 Kg for raw payload attached to Photon. I have not seen open literature on the expected mass of GlobalFi sats.

TUI says their OrbWeaver demo, which would be similar to GlobalFi sats being built by Spiderfab, would be 320kg, not including the aluminum ESPA ring which it would consume to manufacture the reflector antenna. It's not entirely clear what the mass breakdown is for actual satellite versus Spiderfab, especially in comparison to OrbWeaver which intends to build only a single sat, as well as other components which could be replaced by services from the Photon bus. The stated mass suggests that the OrbWeaver iteration at least would be unsuitable for Electron, and the existence proof of Telesat's prototype would suggest that making a 45 kg sat (which might allow a 3 sat launch with Spiderfab on Photon) would be somewhat difficult. That could force the number of launches on Electron up to 27 if you can effectively only fit something OneWeb class in mass for a single sat due to component mass (thus effectively emulating OrbWeaver at half it's mass), and you would be looking at something near 4.1 metric tons for an all up launch.

I haven't seen any open literature on the mass of Ubiquitilink sats yet, so can't really say anything constructive about mass/design.

My reference to GlobalFi are clearly confusing you.

My point is that generating an hourly service with a few dozen satellites is non-trivial.

So.... regardless of the specific satellite company, regardless of the payload mass, regardless of the launcher type, and not using Star Trek technology, what is the launch architecture to create an hourly service?

[gongora]

My point is that generating an hourly service with a few dozen satellites is non-trivial.

So.... regardless of the specific satellite company, regardless of the payload mass, regardless of the launcher type, and not using Star Trek technology, what is the launch architecture to create an hourly service?

Iridium has constant coverage with 5 1/2 dozen satellites.  That makes hourly coverage with half as many satellites sound very reasonable.

[Danderman]

My point is that generating an hourly service with a few dozen satellites is non-trivial.

So.... regardless of the specific satellite company, regardless of the payload mass, regardless of the launcher type, and not using Star Trek technology, what is the launch architecture to create an hourly service?

Iridium has constant coverage with 5 1/2 dozen satellites.  That makes hourly coverage with half as many satellites sound very reasonable.

Not exactly.

Iridium is not a good example, nor is Globalstar.

Filling a plane of Iridium or Globalstar would require a launch on Falcon 9 or similar launcher. That’s a lot of money. On the other hand, to provide hourly coverage with a company employing small seats is much more difficult, since a plane may be filled with just 1 - 3 satellites, and that is probably not economically feasible - there just aren’t many launchers available to put 300 kg in orbit.

[gongora]

[GeekWire] UbiquitiLink wins $5.2M boost for satellite service that works with standard phones

Virginia-based UbiquitiLink says it has raised another $5.2 million in seed funding for a network that aims to provide satellite connectivity for standard mobile devices.
...
Miller said more than 20 mobile operators have already signed testing agreements. Cellular One in Arizona, Telefonica’s MoviStar service in Argentina and Vodafone Hutchison in Australia are among the publicly disclosed partners, he said.
...
An upgraded version of the payload is due for launch later this month, with testing scheduled to begin next month. If all the tests go well (and if the company attracts additional funding), UbiquitiLink could start launching operational satellites and go commercial by the end of 2020 or in early 2021, Miller said.

[Danderman]

Ubiquitilink has a new payload at ISS now, courtesy of CRS-18.

[Danderman]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/2/20746947/ubiquitilink-satellite-cell-tower-space-mega-constellation

Space startup aims to launch thousands of satellite ‘cell towers’ that connect to the average phone

[gongora]

Updated filing of test sites, adding sites in Argentina, Chile, Canada.

[envy887]

My point is that generating an hourly service with a few dozen satellites is non-trivial.

So.... regardless of the specific satellite company, regardless of the payload mass, regardless of the launcher type, and not using Star Trek technology, what is the launch architecture to create an hourly service?

Iridium has constant coverage with 5 1/2 dozen satellites.  That makes hourly coverage with half as many satellites sound very reasonable.

Not exactly.

Iridium is not a good example, nor is Globalstar.

Filling a plane of Iridium or Globalstar would require a launch on Falcon 9 or similar launcher. That’s a lot of money. On the other hand, to provide hourly coverage with a company employing small seats is much more difficult, since a plane may be filled with just 1 - 3 satellites, and that is probably not economically feasible - there just aren’t many launchers available to put 300 kg in orbit.

Drifting between planes isn't that hard if the satellites have a decent amount of propulsion.

[Danderman]

Using differential precession rates to assemble a constellation is a lot harder in practice than it seems.

For a small constellation, the planes are far apart.

For a large constellation, some number of spares must also be included in the mix. Also, there is the problem that some satellites have larger propulsion requirements than those launched directly  into the desired plane.

Satellite constellations operating higher than 1000 km have more "room" to work with in terms of differential altitudes than those operating below 500 km. We have never seen a structured constellation with large numbers of satellites below 500 km to date, so we have not yet seen a solution to some of these practical issues.

[Danderman]

UBL has a payload attached to NG-11, which will fly until December.

[Danderman]

The company has changed its name to Lynk Global, or "Lynk".

[niwax]

The company has changed its name to Lynk Global, or "Lynk".

I've been waiting for this ever since I first saw the name, it's hardly unique in the networking/communication space.

[Asteroza]

The company has changed its name to Lynk Global, or "Lynk".

I've been waiting for this ever since I first saw the name, it's hardly unique in the networking/communication space.

Note Ubiquitilink's new homepage is NOT https://lynk.global but rather https://lynk.world/

[su27k]

An article about Lynk and its competitors: Your Phone May Soon Receive 4G Service ... From Space!

[Danderman]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21184126/lynk-mega-constellation-text-message-android-smartphone-cell-towers-space

Lynk has tested its cell tower in space.

[Tulse]

Can Lynk handle more than just texting? While all the media material talks about "connecting" to cell phones, I haven't seen anything about actual voice service. Doing data/text is still impressive, but it's probably not what most people think of when you say your cell phone will get service from a satellite.

[Asteroza]

Can Lynk handle more than just texting? While all the media material talks about "connecting" to cell phones, I haven't seen anything about actual voice service. Doing data/text is still impressive, but it's probably not what most people think of when you say your cell phone will get service from a satellite.

Presumably they can, provided they have enough coverage in space and ground station connectivity. Their initial constellation only provides hourly coverage, so async stuff like text messages (and small data bursts like IoT telemetry beacons) are more suitable in that scenario.

Interesting that they are now looking at 55kg sats.

[TrevorMonty]

Even a limited txt messaging capability would be useful. Better than carry dedicated satellite phone and cheaper if only paying buy txt. Would ideal for hiking in remote places, or as alternative to global roaming.

This would allow them to start small and expand as demand grows till they can provide voice coverage.

[gongora]

Lynk has filed FCC permits for a (6U?) test sat "Lynk the World" that will be deployed from NG-13 after it leaves ISS.

[john smith 19]

Even a limited txt messaging capability would be useful. Better than carry dedicated satellite phone and cheaper if only paying buy txt. Would ideal for hiking in remote places, or as alternative to global roaming.

This would allow them to start small and expand as demand grows till they can provide voice coverage.

That was the pitch of Orbcomm and Geostar.

When went Ch11 like every other LEO/MEO constellation comm sat service provider.

People have been trying this stuff since the mid 90's (the first 2 Orbcomm satellites launched on OSC Pegasus in 1995). 25 years of watching the economics of those fleets seems to taught very few people very few lessons. 

[Asteroza]

Even a limited txt messaging capability would be useful. Better than carry dedicated satellite phone and cheaper if only paying buy txt. Would ideal for hiking in remote places, or as alternative to global roaming.

This would allow them to start small and expand as demand grows till they can provide voice coverage.

That was the pitch of Orbcomm and Geostar.

When went Ch11 like every other LEO/MEO constellation comm sat service provider.

People have been trying this stuff since the mid 90's (the first 2 Orbcomm satellites launched on OSC Pegasus in 1995). 25 years of watching the economics of those fleets seems to taught very few people very few lessons. 

The one lesson Lynk has learned is custom terminals are like a dead albatross around a constellation's neck, thus the effort in getting relatively unmodified smartphones to work with it. You do not want to put up barriers to people trying to throw money at you.

[john smith 19]

The one lesson Lynk has learned is custom terminals are like a dead albatross around a constellation's neck, thus the effort in getting relatively unmodified smartphones to work with it. You do not want to put up barriers to people trying to throw money at you.

The classic in this regard was the inability of iridium terminals to not work indoors.  .

What has changed is the ability to set up picocell base stations and therefor (in principal) shift the issue to a small wireless unit that can interface to unmodified cell phones.

Not sure how Lynk will actually proceed but it's an option that didn't exist in the 90's.

[Danderman]

The one lesson Lynk has learned is custom terminals are like a dead albatross around a constellation's neck, thus the effort in getting relatively unmodified smartphones to work with it. You do not want to put up barriers to people trying to throw money at you.

The classic in this regard was the inability of iridium terminals to not work indoors.  .

What has changed is the ability to set up picocell base stations and therefor (in principal) shift the issue to a small wireless unit that can interface to unmodified cell phones.

Not sure how Lynk will actually proceed but it's an option that didn't exist in the 90's.

Another name for picocell base stations is “custom terminal”.

[Danderman]

Even a limited txt messaging capability would be useful. Better than carry dedicated satellite phone and cheaper if only paying buy txt. Would ideal for hiking in remote places, or as alternative to global roaming.

This would allow them to start small and expand as demand grows till they can provide voice coverage.

That was the pitch of Orbcomm and Geostar.

When went Ch11 like every other LEO/MEO constellation comm sat service provider.

People have been trying this stuff since the mid 90's (the first 2 Orbcomm satellites launched on OSC Pegasus in 1995). 25 years of watching the economics of those fleets seems to taught very few people very few lessons. 

Every failed LEO constellation required the customer to buy some custom equipment.

[john smith 19]

Every failed LEO constellation required the customer to buy some custom equipment.

Quite true.

The (possible) attraction of the picocell is that it lets multiple uses share the specialist equipment and continue to use their personal mobiles.

Wheather that's enough to justify using Lynk Globals system (or starlink, or anyone else's) system only time will tell.

Keep in mind cell phone reception is radically more developed now than in the mid 90's. Sat phones to talk to geo comm sats have shown to be workable.

One market that's substantial but difficult to serve is the US. Lots of folk with poor broadband provided by cable companies with a virtual monopoly on the service who have actively tried to stifle competition by resident owned broadband suppliers and a very cooper"cooperative"  chairman of the FCC in Pai.

[Asteroza]

Every failed LEO constellation required the customer to buy some custom equipment.

Quite true.

The (possible) attraction of the picocell is that it lets multiple uses share the specialist equipment and continue to use their personal mobiles.

Wheather that's enough to justify using Lynk Globals system (or starlink, or anyone else's) system only time will tell.

Keep in mind cell phone reception is radically more developed now than in the mid 90's. Sat phones to talk to geo comm sats have shown to be workable.

One market that's substantial but difficult to serve is the US. Lots of folk with poor broadband provided by cable companies with a virtual monopoly on the service who have actively tried to stifle competition by resident owned broadband suppliers and a very cooper"cooperative"  chairman of the FCC in Pai.

The picocell thing is in a weird situation though. We have seen limited picocell deployments by broadband providers partially or wholly owned by a parent cellular provider, typically by direct integration of the picocell hardware with the home router/modem/wifi AP that most people lease from their provider. So end users are invisibly subsidizing the cost of custom terminals. The hard issue of 5G deployments being so capital intensive could be partially mitigated by burdening broadband users to pay for the 5G picocells directly via modem integration (unbeknownst to them though). The primary aim of adding wireless hardware of any kind at first was large federated wifi deployments, as it's an easy sell to get a home user to lease a modem with wifi capabilities (they need a home wifi AP anyways, and having multiple SSID's on an AP is peanuts in costs). Stepping up to cellular picocells is a harder sell though, unless you actively allow home users to prioritize their smartphones on the picocell (which most seem to allow?)

Then there is the reverse situation starting to show up, where getting fixed line broadband is such a hassle (particularly high speed broadband greater than 90's era DSL), so the cellular carriers are turning things around and selling externally powered "mobile routers" that operate as home wifi AP's. The interesting assumption there is home user devices have mostly migrated to wifi rather than wired ethernet (more people own wifi equipped laptops than wired desktops, watching Netflix on smartphones and tablets via wifi, portable game devices are all wifi). Those semi-fixed mobile routers also tend to use other cellular frequencies, as not being actively mobile allows for certain optimizations from a cellular provider perspective (no tower handoffs normally)(some interesting reuse of existing legacy WiMAX frequencies). A case could be made that a cellular provider trying to roll out 5G/high end 4G LTE that is trying to go to war against fixed line broadband providers outside of their own partnership group may have an interest in having secondary backhaul capabilities wherever they have poor coverage. Similar to picocell routers, the customer is asked to place the box by a window so it can see the sky (rather than a tower). The price of the equipment is a little eyewatering though (you would need a fairly high end wifi chip to cover WiFi6, a 5G modem, and the satcomm chip/antenna, plus ancillaries like GPS and maybe bluetooth)(you could cover a lot with a single recent high end Qualcomm smartphone chip except for the satcomm)(one could make the argument that an externally powered home access box that is not size/battery constrained would be perfect for a high end SDR chip that covers all your transmitting and receiving needs coupled with a diode moderated phased array antenna, something like a high end fractenna)

[gongora]

Lynk isn't going to compete in the broadband market.  They're not doing 5G.  I'm not sure why picocells are being discussed.

[TrevorMonty]

Recent podcast by founder of Lynk Global.
https://www.thespaceshow.com/show/14-aug-2020/broadcast-3557-charles-miller

Currently have few satellites in operation. Initial services are txt with limited service eg once hour. For texting in remote locations better than nothing. Can be used for remote monitoring of equipment and broadcasting emergency messages eg hurricane is coming.

For data an voice calls early satellites will relay via ground stations which Lynk currently lease. Satellites will need to see phone and ground station at same time, calls will be limited to few minutes. More satellites more call & data windows there will be. With inter satellite datalinks better coverage. Not mentioned but using Starlink or Oneweb as backbone could remove need for ground stations and give satellites permanent ground link.

Looked at using off shelf satellite buses but came to conclusion that it will be cheaper to build inhouse for volumes they need ie 1000s. No mention of mass but I think its in 10s of kgs. Sats need propulsion for low orbit station keep so can make use of F9 cheap rideshare, just need larger fuel tanks.

Will work with current phones but new phones optimised for Lynk network would give better performance, in discussions with phone manufacturers about this. Would  make these phones more attractive to high users of Lynk.

Service is offered as roaming package through existing cell provider. Billed to user by their existing provider. Lynk only deal with cell providers not phone owners.

[gongora]

Recent podcast by founder of Lynk Global.
https://www.thespaceshow.com/show/14-aug-2020/broadcast-3557-charles-miller

Currently have few satellites in operation.

Currently have one test satellite in operation

[Danderman]

Web site is updated:

https://lynk.world/

[su27k]

Lynk files FCC license application for initial direct-to-cellphone satellite system

Lynk announced May 25 that it filed the FCC application using the commission’s streamlined licensing process for smallsats established in 2019. The company hopes that approach will allow it to begin commercial services with a first group of satellites within a year.

That streamlined approach does set limits on the size, orbital altitude, and lifetime of the satellites. It also covers constellations of no more than 10 satellites.

Lynk ultimately envisions operating as many as 5,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, communicating with mobile phones without the need for special antennas or other equipment. The company has tested the technology enabling this on several hosted payloads and smallsats, operating under experimental licenses. Earlier this year company officials said they wanted to begin commercial operations in 2022 using a small fraction of that full constellation.

[Danderman]

https://lynk.world/lynk-begins-operation-of-next-generation-fifth-cell-tower-in-space-satellite

Lynk Global, the world's only independently verified cell-tower-in-space network connectivity provider, today announced that its 5th satellite (Shannon) successfully deployed into low Earth orbit and is alive and beginning operations.  This next-generation satellite advances Lynk’s main objective to provide global commercial service next year — connecting to standard mobile phones — with a constellation of “cell towers in space.”

[Danderman]

Lynk has achieved a major technological breakthrough by making possible, for the first time, direct two-way satellite-to-mobile-phone connectivity. The announcement stems from the company connecting hundreds of ordinary phones to its cell-tower-in-space across three countries.  “Lynk has now done the impossible” says Charles Miller, Lynk’s CEO and cofounder.

Learn more about Lynk’s achievement here: https://lynk.world/lynk-proves-direct-two-way-satellite-to-mobile-phone-connectivity

[Asteroza]

As far as I understand the major differentiator, Lynk will be operating true flying base stations, while SpaceMobile are effectively running only relays (not clear if dumb bent pipe or not) and co-opting frequency allocations from their terrestrial partners for use when overflying those territories.


Initial start is 10 sats under their restricted periodic access constellation application, but aiming for a full global realtime constellation (I see different announcements of 1500 and 5000 sats for this though).

[gongora]

Big differentiator is that AST is going for much higher bandwidth on the connections, while Lynk is basically just text messages.  The AST sats are huge compared to the Lynk sats.

Lynk also will need to partner for frequencies, they don't have the licenses for those frequencies.

Lynk's first generation sats they're launching now don't have propulsion either.

[Danderman]

https://lynk.world/lynk-signs-contracts-with-first-two-mobile-operators

Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk) the world's only independently verified cell-tower-in-space connectivity provider, today announced that it has signed its first commercial agreements with Aliv in the Bahamas, and Telecel Centrafrique in the Central African Republic. Lynk’s satellites will enable Aliv and Telecel subscribers to stay connected everywhere on the planet using a standard unmodified mobile phone. As Flagship partners, Aliv and Telecel have acquired first-to-market rights to implement Lynk’s service in their respective countries. Lynk’s global commercial service is scheduled to be launched next year, and more agreements are expected in the coming months.

“Lynk is proud to announce the first two mobile network operators as a part of our Flagship partnership program. This speaks to the visionary leadership of Aliv and Telecel Centrafrique, which recognize the powerful benefits of providing universal mobile broadband to their customers. We are honored to be selected by Aliv and Telecel as their satellite partners,” says Charles Miller, Lynk co-founder, and CEO.

[su27k]

A Q&A with Lynk CEO Charles Miller

Last month, Lynk claimed a first: two-way satellite-to-smartphone connectivity. The breakthrough was not the connection, but that Lynk satellites communicated with ordinary, unmodified phones. Phones were talking to satellites without any special satellite receiver.

Lynk is raising a new round of funding, negotiating contracts with mobile carriers, and preparing for Gen-1 satellite production, CEO Charles Miller tells Payload. You can find the full interview below.

[Danderman]

https://lynk.world/lynk-signs-contract-with-mongolias-largest-mobile-network-operator

Lynk Signs Contract with Mongolia’s Largest Mobile Network Operator
Commercial agreement reached with Unitel for service start in 2022

Falls Church, VA — Nov. 3, 2021 — Lynk Global Inc. (Lynk), the world's leading cell-tower-in-space connectivity provider, today announced it has signed a commercial partnership agreement with Unitel, Mongolia’s largest mobile operator, enabling its subscribers to remain connected everywhere on the planet with ordinary cell phones. Unitel represents Lynk’s third partnership agreement reached within the past month with a mobile network operator (MNO) as part of the American tech firm’s Flagship Carrier Program. As a carrier program partner, Unitel will now have first-to-market rights to implement Lynk’s service in Mongolia. Lynk’s global commercial service providing direct satellite to cell phone service is on schedule to be deployed next year.

“We know that Unitel is looking at many options to supplement network coverage for its subscribers. We are honored that they chose Lynk to be their partner to help meet its critical connectivity needs in Mongolia’s vast landscape. This represents traction for Lynk, as we are adding another region of the world to our Flagship Carrier Program,” states Charles Miller, Lynk CEO. “Recently we announced that Lynk’s 5th satellite has connected, and registered, hundreds of standard mobile phones per minute in initial tests in the US, the UK and the Bahamas, proving that Lynk has solved the last major technology barrier to connecting everybody, everywhere with a standard mobile phone.”

“The landscape of Mongolia presents a significant challenge to the country’s telecommunications’ sector as we have a sparse population that’s spread throughout Gobi deserts, temperate forests, vast steppes and extensive mountain ranges. Under these circumstances, Unitel Group has been successfully providing many modern B2C and B2B tech services and solutions including mobile plans, high-speed internet, IPTV, OTT and cloud services to Mongolians for the past 15 years. Thus, we are excited to enter into a partnership with Lynk to make our services more inclusive and extensive for thousands of people,” noted Mr.Enkhbat Dorjpalam, CEO of Unitel Group.

[su27k]

Charles Miller was on the Space Show recently talking about Lynk (and general space policy issues): https://thespaceshow.com/show/21-nov-2021/broadcast-3791-charles-miller

[Asteroza]

Looks like Lynk.Global's sat got bumped due to bad Sherpa

https://spacenews.com/propellant-leak-forces-sherpa-tug-off-spacex-rideshare-mission/

Lynk Global had its first commercial satellite, Lynk Tower 1, on the Sherpa as the company begins to roll out its satellite telephony services.

[Danderman]

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/tonga-volcano-tsunami-destruction-shows-need-secure-communications-space-ncna1287678

Tonga demonstrates the need for emergency communications.

[su27k]

Lynk satellites connect with thousands of devices

Lynk Global satellites have connected with thousands of unmodified smartphones, tablets, internet-of-things devices and vehicles, the Fall Church, Virginia, startup announced Feb. 8.

The mobile devices required “zero modifications,” Lynk CEO Charles Miller told SpaceNews. “In fact, these devices did not know they were even participating in our test.”

Lynk was testing the ability of its fifth satellite to connect with the company’s own smartphones, when thousands of other devices that lacked terrestrial network service detected the Lynk signal and “automatically requested a connection,” Miller said by email. “Our satellite then connected them.”

[Robotbeat]

Lynk is a huge deal. Honestly, the idea is just as big or maybe even bigger than Starlink’s idea. (Execution is maybe another story.)

It’s a trillion dollar market. And by working with unmodified cellphones, there’s no terminal supply chain issues to slow development and limit revenue. It’s purely just satellite capacity and regulatory permission.

[Danderman]

Lynk is a huge deal. Honestly, the idea is just as big or maybe even bigger than Starlink’s idea. (Execution is maybe another story.)

It’s a trillion dollar market. And by working with unmodified cellphones, there’s no terminal supply chain issues to slow development and limit revenue. It’s purely just satellite capacity and regulatory permission.

Disclosure: I am one of the founders of Lynk, so I may be biased.

IF Lynk can execute its business plan, it has a good chance of being a very successful space company.

The basic premise is to connect people with cell phones who happen to be in areas of poor cellular coverage.  Lynk operates in partnership with existing telcos to utilize their spectrum.

[Craftyatom]

Lynk is a huge deal. Honestly, the idea is just as big or maybe even bigger than Starlink’s idea. (Execution is maybe another story.)

It’s a trillion dollar market. And by working with unmodified cellphones, there’s no terminal supply chain issues to slow development and limit revenue. It’s purely just satellite capacity and regulatory permission.

I'm somewhat in agreement, but will emphasize that these connections are very low bandwidth.  Lynk themselves specify that they'd have serious trouble handling even voice calls with their early setup - no problem, they want to start small and work their way up.  The problem is that scaling up to higher bandwidth is fundamentally limited by mobile antenna size.  To achieve a good enough SNR for high-bandwidth operations requires either more power or higher gain, which in turn means larger or more numerous satellites, until eventually you're at AST/SpaceMobile levels, which are (IMO) unsustainable.

Low-bandwidth communications are still great.  You can still serve a lot of customers, and make a lot of money, by operating such a network.  That's exactly what IoT satellite operators have been doing for decades - the difference is that Lynk is building an IoT constellation that uses existing terminals and protocols (even if it takes significant work to fit into specifications that weren't designed for them).  That's a large market, but I would characterize it as closer to existing IoT operators than new high-bandwidth operators - and indeed, "We’re not competing with Elon."

So while I'm confident Lynk has a path to success, and an important role to play in global communications, I wouldn't exactly say that they've opened up a brand-new "trillion dollar market", though I can see why there's reason for optimism.

[Danderman]

Lynk Signs Contracts to Bring Satellite-Direct-to-Phone
Connectivity to Seven Pacific and Caribbean Island Nations
 
Today, I am thrilled to share that Lynk has signed commercial contracts providing coverage to seven Pacific and Caribbean Island nations, including with Telikom Limited in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and bmobile in the Solomon Islands.
 
A month after hiring Dan Dooley, former President of Sprint Wholesale, Lynk signed our first commercial contract in August of 2021.  Lynk has now signed eight commercial contracts with a total book value exceeding $130 million.

[Robotbeat]

Lynk is a huge deal. Honestly, the idea is just as big or maybe even bigger than Starlink’s idea. (Execution is maybe another story.)

It’s a trillion dollar market. And by working with unmodified cellphones, there’s no terminal supply chain issues to slow development and limit revenue. It’s purely just satellite capacity and regulatory permission.

I'm somewhat in agreement, but will emphasize that these connections are very low bandwidth.  Lynk themselves specify that they'd have serious trouble handling even voice calls with their early setup - no problem, they want to start small and work their way up.  The problem is that scaling up to higher bandwidth is fundamentally limited by mobile antenna size.  To achieve a good enough SNR for high-bandwidth operations requires either more power or higher gain, which in turn means larger or more numerous satellites, until eventually you're at AST/SpaceMobile levels, which are (IMO) unsustainable.

Low-bandwidth communications are still great.  You can still serve a lot of customers, and make a lot of money, by operating such a network.  That's exactly what IoT satellite operators have been doing for decades - the difference is that Lynk is building an IoT constellation that uses existing terminals and protocols (even if it takes significant work to fit into specifications that weren't designed for them).  That's a large market, but I would characterize it as closer to existing IoT operators than new high-bandwidth operators - and indeed, "We’re not competing with Elon."

So while I'm confident Lynk has a path to success, and an important role to play in global communications, I wouldn't exactly say that they've opened up a brand-new "trillion dollar market", though I can see why there's reason for optimism.

If they can leverage Starship-like launch costs and Starlink-like satellite costs (for larger satellites), then I do think it can be more than just IoT. Their current satellites are small and sparse. But change the game by a couple orders of magnitude, and the situation looks pretty different.

[Robotbeat]

Bump. What is the CURRENT capability of Lynk Global? Can it be used to get text messages from out of places like Ukraine (or Russia)?

[Danderman]

Bump. What is the CURRENT capability of Lynk Global? Can it be used to get text messages from out of places like Ukraine (or Russia)?

Lynk can only operate where it has service agreements with telephone system operators. AFAIK, there is no agreement in Ukraine yet.

[Robotbeat]

Yeah, that’s pretty easy to arrange in this kind of situation.

Remember that one official begged for Starlink. (And got it!)

But I don’t know how Lynk’s architecture works.

[Asteroza]

Regardless they don't have their full IoT constellation either, so their coverage is spotty at best (full IoT constellation was going to be coverage available every hour roughly)

[Robotbeat]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

[Asteroza]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

Getting the SIM cards there might be problematic (wonder if you could do an eSIM though...)

[Robotbeat]

There are still logistics in Ukraine. Small things like SIM cards can get through, perhaps even to some “encircled” cities.

But I don’t think they require a SIM card necessarily, as you say.

[Danderman]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

Getting the SIM cards there might be problematic (wonder if you could do an eSIM though...)

Lynk does not require specialized SIM cards for customers.

[Asteroza]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

Getting the SIM cards there might be problematic (wonder if you could do an eSIM though...)

Lynk does not require specialized SIM cards for customers.

special no, but unless you are doing remote provisioning somehow like an eSIM, they'll need provisioned/activated cards

[edzieba]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

Getting the SIM cards there might be problematic (wonder if you could do an eSIM though...)

Lynk does not require specialized SIM cards for customers.

special no, but unless you are doing remote provisioning somehow like an eSIM, they'll need provisioned/activated cards

A GSM device can still make emergency calls without a SIM present (and on any available network), so clearly there is not a hard technical requirement for presence of a provisioned SIM for basic connectivity (including voice and SMS). That sort of free-for-all setup is not viable for normal service, but for the current emergency situation it's not a concern unless you wish to preserve its use for specific users (e.g. emergency services, military) rather than for general population emergency access - though some sort of whitelisting/blacklisting could be viable based purely on IMEI.

[Robotbeat]

Is there a thread yet for this company, AST, which doing basically the same thing?

https://twitter.com/AST_SpaceMobile/status/1481987297469997057?s=20&t=0tegY_9jh1iEePfLRiUEBA

[edzieba]

Is there a thread yet for this company, AST, which doing basically the same thing?

https://twitter.com/AST_SpaceMobile/status/1481987297469997057?s=20&t=0tegY_9jh1iEePfLRiUEBA

Yes.

[Danderman]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

Getting the SIM cards there might be problematic (wonder if you could do an eSIM though...)

Lynk does not require specialized SIM cards for customers.

special no, but unless you are doing remote provisioning somehow like an eSIM, they'll need provisioned/activated cards

A GSM device can still make emergency calls without a SIM present (and on any available network), so clearly there is not a hard technical requirement for presence of a provisioned SIM for basic connectivity (including voice and SMS). That sort of free-for-all setup is not viable for normal service, but for the current emergency situation it's not a concern unless you wish to preserve its use for specific users (e.g. emergency services, military) rather than for general population emergency access - though some sort of whitelisting/blacklisting could be viable based purely on IMEI.

Lynk operates in partnership with mobile phone operators, so that Lynn’s customers are also the customers of mobile phone operators. Since a cellular user must have a SIM card to be a customer of a mobile phone operator, this discussion about users without SIM cards doesn’t make sense in this topic.

If anyone is all excited about accessing the market for phone users who took out their SIM cards, they can start a new topic.

[edzieba]

Even spotty coverage is useful for getting messages in and out. Virtually everyone has a cellphone.

Getting the SIM cards there might be problematic (wonder if you could do an eSIM though...)

Lynk does not require specialized SIM cards for customers.

special no, but unless you are doing remote provisioning somehow like an eSIM, they'll need provisioned/activated cards

A GSM device can still make emergency calls without a SIM present (and on any available network), so clearly there is not a hard technical requirement for presence of a provisioned SIM for basic connectivity (including voice and SMS). That sort of free-for-all setup is not viable for normal service, but for the current emergency situation it's not a concern unless you wish to preserve its use for specific users (e.g. emergency services, military) rather than for general population emergency access - though some sort of whitelisting/blacklisting could be viable based purely on IMEI.

Lynk operates in partnership with mobile phone operators, so that Lynn’s customers are also the customers of mobile phone operators. Since a cellular user must have a SIM card to be a customer of a mobile phone operator, this discussion about users without SIM cards doesn’t make sense in this topic.

If anyone is all excited about accessing the market for phone users who took out their SIM cards, they can start a new topic.

I think most are more interested in operations where there are no local mobile phone operators (either because the ones that were operating have ceased due to disruption, or because they never existed in the first place) but where commodity phones with a random - provisioned or not - or no SIM card are as ubiquitously available as anywhere else.

[Danderman]

Lynn’s Cell Tower 1 satellite was deployed in orbit today.

[Danderman]

Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk), the world’s leading satellite-direct-to-phone telecoms company, today announced the successful launch, deployment, and initial on-orbit check-out of Lynk Tower 1. The spacecraft is the company’s sixth ‘cell-tower-in-space’ satellite and is now in position to become the world’s first commercial cell-tower-in-space. Lynk Tower 1 is the first satellite covered by Lynk’s application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a global commercial license to operate a satellite direct-to-standard-phone service.

“With the launch of Lynk Tower 1, Lynk is positioned to begin commercial service later this year and provides the world’s first true satellite-direct-to-phone service to citizens across the globe,” said Charles Miller, CEO and co-founder of Lynk. “For our flagship carrier partners, today’s news means that we are only months away from helping them solve the world’s ‘0G Problem’ and enabling their subscribers to connect everywhere.”

[su27k]

Second commercial Lynk Global satellite still looking for launch

Lynk Global said it is still waiting for Spaceflight to rebook a flight for the second commercial satellite in its cellphone-compatible broadband network, four months after the launch services provider’s space tug was kicked off a SpaceX mission.

<snip>

Lynk Global announced July 5 that it had secured funding from Virginia Venture Partners, the equity investment arm of Virginia’s non-profit Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), to accelerate its initial commercial services launch in late 2022.

Miller said Lynk Global secured $1 million in funding — the first time VIPC has decided to invest up to its maximum funding cap in a single transaction — which will be used to build and integrate its third and fourth commercial satellites.

[JayWee]

Umm, they want to build a megaconstellation with thousands of sats, touting a $1T TAM and... they celebrate raising $1M ? Feels... bad.

[su27k]

https://twitter.com/LynkTheWorld/status/1544724878107914246

@LynkTheWorld wins @mercedesbenz "car2space" Challenge ! Lynk will soon connect hundreds of millions of cars everywhere on Earth using ‘cell towers in space’ -

https://lynk.world/lynk-wins-mercedes-benz-car2space-challenge

[Danderman]

Lynk signs 14th contract — value estimated at >$2B

Lynk signed a “Masters Service Agreement” (MSA) with MTN Group, which is the 8th largest MNO in the world, and the largest in Africa.  This is Lynk’s 14th signed contract with MNOs.

[Steven Pietrobon]

MNO stands for Mobile Network Operator, for those who wondering what this acronym stood for, like myself.

[Danderman]

https://www.nsr.com/finally-spacex-joining-the-direct-satellite-to-device-race/

[Danderman]

https://payloadspace.com/starlink-mobile-play-validates-lynks-strategy-says-ceo/

[gongora]

A couple filings I ran across on the FCC site from earlier in the year with stuff like status and coexistence with the terrestrial networks.

[su27k]

https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/1567085875212783618

.@LynkTheWorld: @SpaceX-@TMobile, @apple-@Globalstar, @AST_SpaceMobile imminent launch, @Huawei's ambitions: It's all good for us. Now we need our @FCC license. https://bit.ly/3RHq9SD

[gongora]

FCC Grants Lynk First-Ever License for Commercial Satellite-Direct-to-Standard-Mobile-Phone Service

Approval accelerates Lynk’s plans to provide universal mobile service later this year

Falls Church, VA – September 16, 2022 – Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk), the world’s leading satellite-direct-to-standard-phone telecoms company, today expressed its appreciation to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for granting Lynk the world's first-ever commercial license for a satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service. This FCC license enables Lynk to launch commercial services for its global constellation of satellites later this year, paving the way for universal mobile connectivity.

Margo Deckard, COO and co-founder of Lynk, said, “The FCC is the gold standard of telecommunication regulators. They have deep technical knowledge and conducted a rigorous review process, which validates that Lynk’s first-of-its-kind satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service is ready to be deployed globally.” Deckard added, “We applaud the FCC and its staff for using their smallsat rules to accelerate innovation in space. We are honored to receive the very first commercial license for the world’s first true satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service from such a credible and respected regulator.”

Lynk launched Lynk Tower 1, the first satellite covered by the FCC license, on April 1. Lynk is scheduled to launch three more satellites — also known as Lynk Towers 2, 3 and 4 and Lynk’s 7th, 8th, and 9th cell-towers-in-space — later this year as the company advances toward deploying its global service. Lynk has signed contracts with 15 mobile network operators (MNOs) in 36 countries representing over 240M mobile subscribers, and is actively testing in 10 countries.

Today, only 10% of the world’s surface is covered by terrestrial mobile connectivity. This means that 90% of the planet is in “coverage black spots,” otherwise known as “0G”. 0G is a problem for four billion people. Over three billion people per year with a mobile phone experience extended periods of disconnectivity. Another billion people per year will buy their first phone when there is affordable mobile coverage where they live and work.

This FCC license will also allow Lynk to provide emergency communication services to help people recover from disasters and will save lives. Earlier this year, the volcanic eruption in Tonga demonstrated, as have so many other events, the need for a global “instant backup” system to ensure mobile connectivity, no matter what. Lynk’s satellite cell towers are not affected by tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, blizzards, tornados, or other effects that can damage ground-based cell towers.

Steve Case, Chairman of Revolution (Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund is an investor in Lynk) and Co-Founder of America Online (AOL) stated, “Having co-founded America Online, I understand and support Lynk’s mission to connect everyone on Earth via its satellite-direct-to-cell-phone service. With the FCC approval of the world’s first commercial satellite-direct-to-phone license, Lynk is one major step closer to achieving its goals. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund is proud to back a business that recognizes the value in connecting the 8 billion people on this planet — from both a business and global safety perspective.”

“Technologies such as Lynk's satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service are an important part of the evolving mobile ecosystem and will be essential in enabling coverage in underserved geographies,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. “Working in close collaboration with mobile network operators, Lynk’s satellite services will support the goal of ubiquitous connectivity for the benefit of society and business worldwide.”

“Mongolia’s telecommunication sector faces a unique challenge as the country is one of the most sparsely populated in the world. From mountain ranges to steppe prairies, from the Gobi Desert to northern taigas, thousands of nomads live in the Mongolian countryside, and they all require constant and reliable connectivity to the world. Thus far, we have increased our mobile and 4G LTE network coverage to over 80% of the population, which makes Unitel Group the leading telecommunications service provider in Mongolia,” says Bat-Erdene.G, CTO of Unitel Group. “The FCC approval of Lynk’s commercial system marks an important step to enable Unitel Group to expand our efforts in providing the best connectivity to our customers no matter where they are in Mongolia,” he continues.

[gongora]

This initial license is for 10 satellites serving customers outside of the United States using certain UHF frequencies (617-960MHz) to connect with the cellular devices (TT&C and gateway connections are in other frequencies).

[Robotbeat]

Sweet. These direct-to-mobile services are super important for expanding the space economy, plus remote parts of Earth.

[su27k]

I'm confused by the claim that this is "world's first-ever commercial license for a satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service", I thought both Lynk and AST Spacemobile has already have approval from other (unspecified) countries for providing this service in those countries?

[Asteroza]

I'm confused by the claim that this is "world's first-ever commercial license for a satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service", I thought both Lynk and AST Spacemobile has already have approval from other (unspecified) countries for providing this service in those countries?

If I remember correctly, Spacemobile has to borrow MNO frequencies, while Lynk is predicated on having their own?

This initial license is for 10 satellites serving customers outside of the United States using certain UHF frequencies (617-960MHz) to connect with the cellular devices (TT&C and gateway connections are in other frequencies).

I was under the impression that their minimum IoT constellation was 26 sats though?

[gongora]

SpaceMobile and Lynk both use MNO frequencies.

Lynk decided to use the new small sat expedited licensing process for their first license, which is limited to 10 sats per license.  A company can get multiple licenses that way, but 10 sats at a time.  It would probably make sense for them to eventually use the normal licensing process for however many sats they need.

[su27k]

I'm confused by the claim that this is "world's first-ever commercial license for a satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service", I thought both Lynk and AST Spacemobile has already have approval from other (unspecified) countries for providing this service in those countries?

To answer my own question, based on this SpaceNews article, it seems they only have experimental license in other countries:

However, Lynk has not yet secured landing rights in any country where it plans to provide services.

The Virginia-based startup currently has licenses that enable it to test its planned services in 18 countries, including the United States, Lynk CEO Charles Miller told SpaceNews.

However this FCC license doesn't give them landing right in the US either, so seems to me regulatory wise there's still some work to do.

[gongora]

It's a novel use of the spectrum, they definitely have some regulatory work to get through.  AST is dealing with the same thing.

[su27k]

Lynk Global to deploy experimental 5G payload in December

Lynk Global said Sept. 28 it will test the ability to send a 5G signal from a satellite launching in December to standard mobile devices, after getting funding for the demonstration from an undisclosed partner.

The experimental 5G payload will be onboard its second commercial satellite, which SpaceX is slated to fly on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of its Transporter 6 rideshare mission.

Two other Lynk satellites are also due to fly on this mission to give the Virginia-based startup four commercial satellites in low Earth orbit.

Lynk’s initial satellites are designed to provide connectivity for its mobile network operator (MNO) partners’ customers over 2G to 4G.

[Danderman]

https://www.commsupdate.com/articles/2021/09/23/aliv-telecel-centrafrique-ink-deals-with-cell-tower-in-space-firm-lynk/

ALIV, Telecel Centrafrique ink deals with ‘cell-tower-in-space’ firm Lynk

[su27k]

https://twitter.com/LynkTheWorld/status/1597621814233993216

Thrilled to be testing in #Australia with our partner @Optus. As one of Australia's largest telecoms companies, they've now experienced @LynkTheWorld's forthcoming #ubiquitious connectivity across the country's vast landmass via Lynk's LEO satellites: https://optus.com.au/connected/leaders-insights/leo-satellite-to-mobile-technology

[Danderman]

Lynk had 2 payloads on the Transporter 6 launch.

[Danderman]

https://lynk.world/lynk-launches-worlds-2nd-and-3rd-commercial-cell-towers-in-space

Lynk now has an additional 2 cell towers in orbit.

[su27k]

Lynk Global finalizing ground station for direct-to-smartphone services

Lynk Global is close to completing a ground station in Hawaii as part of plans to connect its growing constellation of small satellites to standard smartphones this spring.

The Ka-band ground station is needed to route cellular signals Lynk’s satellites pick up from low Earth orbit (LEO) back to a mobile operator partner’s terrestrial network.

It is the first of dozens of ground stations the venture plans to deploy worldwide to reduce latency and improve the resiliency of its network, which would enable telcos to keep customers connected outside cellular coverage.

[Danderman]

https://www.dawnaerospace.com/latest-news/lynk-selects-dawn-aerospace-propulsion-following-an-extensive-industry-trade-study

[gongora]

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1635296332968792066

Miller: "If you can't get the cost of the satellite down, when you're mass producing, to well under $1 million then you're in trouble."

"Lynk marginal cost per satellite we have in orbit today is under $200,000"

[Danderman]

I missed this one:

https://pinoytechsaga.blogspot.com/2023/03/globe-lynk-test-leo-satellite.html?m=1

Globe, Lynk test LEO satellite connectivity for SMS, alerts

Globe Telecom has partnered with international firm Lynk Global to test Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity for Short Messaging Service (SMS) and emergency alerts.

[Danderman]

https://spaceref.com/space-commerce/lynk-and-vodafone-ghana-sign-contract-bringing-satellite-direct-to-standard-phone-technology-to-ghana-providing-100-mobile-coverage/

Lynk and Vodafone Ghana Sign Contract Bringing Satellite-Direct-to-Standard-Phone Technology to Ghana Providing 100% Mobile Coverage


Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk), the world’s leading satellite-direct-to-standard-phone telecoms company, today announced that it has signed its second commercial contract with Telecel Group in Africa to provide services to Vodafone Ghana’s subscribers. This new contract will provide mobile coverage to 100% of Ghana’s population of 31 million inhabitants using Lynk’s “cell-towers-in-space.”

[Danderman]

https://about.rogers.com/news-ideas/rogers-partners-with-lynk-global-to-bring-satellite-to-phone-coverage-to-canadians/

Rogers Partners With Lynk Global to Bring Satellite-to-Phone Coverage to Canadians

[Danderman]

https://www.satellitetoday.com/telecom/2023/06/23/lynk-starts-initial-satellite-to-cell-service-in-palau-with-local-mno/

Commercial cellphone to satellite service is about to begin. According to Elon, this could be the biggest space market.

[Danderman]

Testing of Cellphone to Satellite in New Zealand.

[Danderman]

https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/lynk-launches-sat-phone-service-palau

Lynk Global has signed over 34 commercial contracts covering more than 50 countries, but it just so happens that PNCC in Palau is the first to launch a service using Lynk’s satellite-to-phone technology.

“They’re a great first customer,” said Lynk CEO Charles Miller.

[Danderman]

https://connectivitybusiness.com/news/lynk-vodafone-cook-islands-link-for-sat2phone-service/

Satellite-to-phone telecom provider Lynk Global will partner with Vodafone Cook Islands to begin satellite direct-to-mobile phone service to subscribers in the Cook Islands to connect vacationers and emergency responders in the remote South Pacific islands.

[Danderman]

https://lynk.world/news/lynk-and-bmobile-solomon-islands-limited-begin-sat2phone-service-for-bmobile-subscribers/

Lynk and bmobile Solomon Islands Limited Begin Sat2Phone Service for bmobile Subscribers

[Danderman]

https://globalnews.ca/news/10169670/rogers-satellite-mobile-phone-call/amp/


Rogers hails successful satellite-to-mobile phone call, plans for Canada-wide rollout

[gongora]

https://globalnews.ca/news/10169670/rogers-satellite-mobile-phone-call/amp/


Rogers hails successful satellite-to-mobile phone call, plans for Canada-wide rollout

Rogers says it plans to launch satellite-to-mobile phone service in 2024, beginning with SMS texting and mass notifications and expanding to voice and data.

[spacenuance]

Another day, another SPAC.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-18/a-rod-s-slam-spac-is-said-to-plan-merger-with-lynk-global[Dec 17]

A blank-check company set up by former New York Yankees all-star Alex Rodriguez is planning to merge with satellite communications provider Lynk Global Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Slam Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, signed a letter of intent to merge with Lynk, with the combined company expected to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange, according to the people, asking not to be identified as the deal hasn’t been made public. The company is expected to be valued at no less than $800 million upon the closing of the transaction, according to people.

[raptorx2]

https://twitter.com/FREESPEECH1017/status/1739825840194773412

[spacenuance]

https://spacenews.com/slam-corp-loses-176-million-ahead-of-proposed-lynk-global-merger/[Dec 28]

TAMPA, Fla. — Former professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez’s shell company got more time from investors to merge with Lynk Global, but has to give $176 million back to those opting to redeem shares rather than a potential stake in the direct-to-smartphone satellite operator.

Slam Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that raised $575 million by listing shares on Nasdaq in February 2021 to search for an investment opportunity, now has less than $99 million in its trust account following a separate batch of shareholder redemptions earlier this year.

The high redemption rate is a blow for Lynk’s hopes to use the funds to grow its constellation — currently enabling intermittent texting and other low-bandwidth services to unmodified phones outside cellular networks in three countries — although extra financing could come from other sources as merger talks continue.

Lynk has not disclosed how much funding it hopes to raise from merging with Slam, although the companies have said they are working on a deal that would value the combined group at $800 million.

The operator currently has three one-meter-squared satellites in low Earth orbit, and plans to deploy two more early next year via SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rideshare mission.

Ultimately, Lynk envisages a constellation of 5,000 satellites to provide continuous connectivity services worldwide through partnerships with terrestrial cellular operators.

[Danderman]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/2degrees-starts-cell-tower-in-space-trial-in-nelson-what-customers-can-expect/BQICDWPK4JHJVMIHG7JPABZKZU/

2degrees has begun trials of a satellite-to-mobile service for a small number of customers in Nelson this week.

The so-called “cell tower in space” trial uses satellites from US start-up Lynk.

[Danderman]

This smartphone to satellite industry is relatively new. One difficulty is that space engineers and smartphone experts work in 2 different fields. I have talked with mobile telephone operators, and they know very little about satellites in LEO. Likewise, space engineers rarely know much about smartphones, except how to use them.

I wouldn't be surprised if some mobile telecom company announced they were planning a satellite constellation. That would likely be a disaster.

[Asteroza]

With what appears to be a $155 million funding round for Spacemobile led by Google (and thus the Google Fi MVNO), I wonder if this will bring potential suitors like Apple (and their Apple SIM MVNO) to Lynk? Filling out the constellation to voice call levels and beyond is gonna need big pockets...

Apple has the free cash to do this, unlike Samsung.

[Tywin]

Apple has a agreement with Globalstar for this...and MDA, Rocket Lab, are building the satellites...

[Asteroza]

Apple has a agreement with Globalstar for this...and MDA, Rocket Lab, are building the satellites...

Globalstar is not what people would think of a global voice/data throughput level of constellation though.

After the failed Qualcomm/Iridium thing for android phone basebands with support for native Iridium, Iridium is effectively throwing in the towel and switching to D2C using unmodified cellphone radios more or less. At this point the market forces are pushing for D2C. Apple is going to have to chose to back one of the big three D2C entrants at some point.

[Danderman]

It's possible that the satellite smartphone industry could evolve into 3 or 4 really big players who gobble up the current entrants. It's hard to see AST and Lynk remaining as standalone entrants 5 years from now, but rather we may see a Google satellite smartphone entrant, maybe other similar giants in the field.

But, I don't claim to have any special insight into the top level machinations, so everything is  a surprise to me.

[Asteroza]

It's possible that the satellite smartphone industry could evolve into 3 or 4 really big players who gobble up the current entrants. It's hard to see AST and Lynk remaining as standalone entrants 5 years from now, but rather we may see a Google satellite smartphone entrant, maybe other similar giants in the field.

But, I don't claim to have any special insight into the top level machinations, so everything is  a surprise to me.

As smartphone global verticals go, you have Apple, Google, and Samsung more or less. Apple has a bad habit of extracting serious concessions from their suppliers and demanding high levels of exclusivity, which means they would target easier to bully partners who are startups, thus Spacemobile or Lynk and not Starlink. Google and Samsung are in a funny situation where they are frenemies who somewhat need each other despite extensive efforts to have independent brands. Wherever Google goes, Samsung at least has to consider following.

A dark horse entrant would be Hauwei/Xiaomi coupling up with the nascent Guowang IF Guowang gains D2C capabilities the same as Starlink. Guowang hasn't really started yet so they could design in the D2C capability, but there doesn't seem to be any ITU movement yet so the first tranche of sats probably won't have it. There may be a bit of a "wait and see" attitude to confirm if D2C will turn into a boondoggle or not (or more specifically the D2C market is too small to sustain multiple competitors). Starlink is increasingly unlikely to fail (with or without D2C), and Guowang is a national project in all but name, but whether Lynk or Spacemobile can exist as a pure D2C play is hard to predict. Being part of a vertical smartphone play means they could potentially operate as a loss leader infrastructure necessary to create a new business ecosystem.

[Danderman]

Or maybe a "big guy" in a related field. I haven't had enough coffee this morning to think of one.

[Danderman]

I wonder if buying shares of SLAM now is the same as investing in LYNK - assuming the deal goes through.

I don't know much about SPACs, so its not clear to me what would happen to SLAM's $10 a share price if the deal goes through.

[Danderman]

https://x.com/satsearchco/status/1751545847731396847?s=20

[Danderman]

https://advanced-television.com/2024/01/02/lynk-global-merger-on-hold/

A proposed merger between Slam Corp, backed by former US professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez, and direct-to-smartphone operator Lynk Global, has hit a potential problem.

A Slam letter sent on December 18th 2023 had notified investors of the merger plan with Lynk, but also requested an extension from the current February 2024 deadline to complete the investment and merger.

A Slam filing to the SEC on December 27th 2023 said that an initial extension request to January 25th 2024 to either conclude the merger or to return shareholder funds has been agreed.

[Danderman]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/slam-corp-lynk-global-inc-130000145.html

Slam Corp. and Lynk Global, Inc. Announce Definitive Business Combination Agreement

Note that this doesn't mean the deal is complete, lots of steps to go.

[TrevorMonty]

I wonder if buying shares of SLAM now is the same as investing in LYNK - assuming the deal goes through.

I don't know much about SPACs, so its not clear to me what would happen to SLAM's $10 a share price if the deal goes through.

If history of other space SPAC shares is anything to go by, your $10 will be &lt;$5 within a  year. Quite a few have gone under or heading that way. Unless company has reasonable revenue stream before going public I'd be very wary. 

[Danderman]

You are correct, the history of space SPACs is not good.

I have read through the SLAM SEC filings, and they state that they believe this deal will result in significant additional investment. If that money comes, LYNK will be okay.

[Danderman]

https://spacenews.com/lynk-global-finalizes-spac-merger-deal/

More on the deal.

[Danderman]

The LYNK investor deck is now available on Edgar:

https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.html?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1838162/000119312524023614/d762554d8k.htm

Cash flow projections, the usual investor stuff.

Disclosure: I bought a little SLAM stock today, solely on the hope that the publicity from the merger will cause a small uptick in the stock price.

[Tywin]

I am in on AST, but maybe buy some Lynk too...

[Danderman]

I read through the SEC filings from SLAM, and have no clear idea what they mean. From what I gather, they intend the resulting company to have a market valuation of $1 billion+, based on additional financing coming Real Soon Now.

[Danderman]

There are GEO based smartphone to satellite providers emerging now, using existing GEO birds. No idea about the technology, I can't imagine that any transmit on traditional smartphone frequencies, so they must use frequencies that some cellphones can access, but telephone companies don't use. This requires the satellite operator to have a license for that frequency in any target market. Maybe its the satellite to ground station downlink frequency.

[DanClemmensen]

There are GEO based smartphone to satellite providers emerging now, using existing GEO birds. No idea about the technology, I can't imagine that any transmit on traditional smartphone frequencies, so they must use frequencies that some cellphones can access, but telephone companies don't use. This requires the satellite operator to have a license for that frequency in any target market. Maybe its the satellite to ground station downlink frequency.

Reference, please? 5G and other smartphone protocols are a whole lot more complicated than just a frequency specification, and the physics of sending enough energy from a smartphone to a GEO satellite is hard to imagine.

[Danderman]

There are GEO based smartphone to satellite providers emerging now, using existing GEO birds. No idea about the technology, I can't imagine that any transmit on traditional smartphone frequencies, so they must use frequencies that some cellphones can access, but telephone companies don't use. This requires the satellite operator to have a license for that frequency in any target market. Maybe its the satellite to ground station downlink frequency.

Reference, please? 5G and other smartphone protocols are a whole lot more complicated than just a frequency specification, and the physics of sending enough energy from a smartphone to a GEO satellite is hard to imagine.

https://www.skylo.tech/

[DanClemmensen]

There are GEO based smartphone to satellite providers emerging now, using existing GEO birds. No idea about the technology, I can't imagine that any transmit on traditional smartphone frequencies, so they must use frequencies that some cellphones can access, but telephone companies don't use. This requires the satellite operator to have a license for that frequency in any target market. Maybe its the satellite to ground station downlink frequency.

Reference, please? 5G and other smartphone protocols are a whole lot more complicated than just a frequency specification, and the physics of sending enough energy from a smartphone to a GEO satellite is hard to imagine.

https://www.skylo.tech/

Thanks. The systems they already support are very low data rate and are specialized hardware, not smartphones. 3GPP to smartphones is "coming soon" and will require a firmware upgrade for the phone. Not sure how that will work, but it is highly unlikely to change the frequencies, and there should be no need to do so anyway. I will wait until they actually offer the product.

[Danderman]

There are GEO based smartphone to satellite providers emerging now, using existing GEO birds. No idea about the technology, I can't imagine that any transmit on traditional smartphone frequencies, so they must use frequencies that some cellphones can access, but telephone companies don't use. This requires the satellite operator to have a license for that frequency in any target market. Maybe its the satellite to ground station downlink frequency.

Reference, please? 5G and other smartphone protocols are a whole lot more complicated than just a frequency specification, and the physics of sending enough energy from a smartphone to a GEO satellite is hard to imagine.

https://www.skylo.tech/

Thanks. The systems they already support are very low data rate and are specialized hardware, not smartphones. 3GPP to smartphones is "coming soon" and will require a firmware upgrade for the phone. Not sure how that will work, but it is highly unlikely to change the frequencies, and there should be no need to do so anyway. I will wait until they actually offer the product.

If a GEO comsat could transmit in a frequency licensed by a cellular company for use by smartphones outside of cellular coverage, its very likely that the transmissions would interfere with terrestrial cell tower signal. That's a major no-no.

I would guess that the GEO comsat would service cellphones via frequences outside licensed cellular bands, maybe L band.

[DanClemmensen]

There are GEO based smartphone to satellite providers emerging now, using existing GEO birds. No idea about the technology, I can't imagine that any transmit on traditional smartphone frequencies, so they must use frequencies that some cellphones can access, but telephone companies don't use. This requires the satellite operator to have a license for that frequency in any target market. Maybe its the satellite to ground station downlink frequency.

Reference, please? 5G and other smartphone protocols are a whole lot more complicated than just a frequency specification, and the physics of sending enough energy from a smartphone to a GEO satellite is hard to imagine.

https://www.skylo.tech/

Thanks. The systems they already support are very low data rate and are specialized hardware, not smartphones. 3GPP to smartphones is "coming soon" and will require a firmware upgrade for the phone. Not sure how that will work, but it is highly unlikely to change the frequencies, and there should be no need to do so anyway. I will wait until they actually offer the product.

If a GEO comsat could transmit in a frequency licensed by a cellular company for use by smartphones outside of cellular coverage, its very likely that the transmissions would interfere with terrestrial cell tower signal. That's a major no-no.

I would guess that the GEO comsat would service cellphones via frequences outside licensed cellular bands, maybe L band.

"L-band" is 1000 to 2000 Mhz.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_band
LTE uses a whole complicated set of frequencies between about 600 Mhz and 5000 Mhz, depending on the country and the cell provider.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_(telecommunication)#Frequency_bands
Depending on the phone, some phones operate across multiple subsets of the LTE frequencies and their RF sections could be tuned to other frequencies within the L-band. I suspect that this is why Skylo has a phone compatibility list.

Cell phones are nearly omnidirectional: the transmitted energy spreads in all directions. This means the energy that hits any particular satellite is a tiny percentage of the transmitted energy. Thus, the uplink will be extremely low data rate.

[Tywin]

But maybe enough for SOS and message?

[TrevorMonty]

But maybe enough for SOS and message?

While messaging in emergency is great option, there still no substitute for EPIRB. Push button and it will transmit your location continuously for few hours or days while being very rugged and waterproof.

Worry is lot people will treat remote ph coverage as substitute for a EPIRB when their activity really does justify carrying an  EPIRB.

[Danderman]

https://en.shiftdelete.net/turkcell-lynk-partnership/

Turkcell announced a partnership agreement with Lynk, a leading satellite communication company, aiming to provide mobile services via satellites. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest mobile technology event held in Barcelona, Turkcell revealed plans to collaborate with Lynk on trials for delivering SMS, voice, and data services directly to phones via satellites.

[Danderman]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/bnnbreaking.com/world/bridging-the-gap-telef%25C3%25B3nica-and-lynk-global-pioneer-satellite-direct-to-mobile-connectivity-in-argentinas-patagonia

A groundbreaking partnership between Telefónica and Lynk Global, Inc. is lighting up the skies over Patagonia, Argentina, with a beacon of connectivity. Their recent trial of the Sat2Phone technology in this remote region represents a pivotal moment in the quest for global connectivity, promising to deliver mobile coverage to the furthest corners of the earth.

[DanClemmensen]

But maybe enough for SOS and message?

While messaging in emergency is great option, there still no substitute for EPIRB. Push button and it will transmit your location continuously for few hours or days while being very rugged and waterproof.

Worry is lot people will treat remote ph coverage as substitute for a EPIRB when their activity really does justify carrying an  EPIRB.

Cell phones are used in emergencies by people who did not think they would be in any danger, but were wrong. They (most of us) do not consider that a drive on a highway might take them out of cell coverage and the car might die or they get in an accident or slide off the road into a ditch. These thing have actually happened. Sure, if you deliberately hike in the high Sierras a lot, by all means invest in an EPIRB. Different scenario.

[Danderman]

When I was first getting involved with Lynk, I lived in the California desert, within sight of a cell tower. But on the fringes of its signal, so 90% of the time, I was without cell signal. A bit of a motivator for me.

[Danderman]

https://www.lightreading.com/satellite/spacex-rivals-pitch-their-phone-to-satellite-alternatives

[Danderman]

Lynk deployed 2 more satellites on the Transporter 10 mission. No notice whether they are functional.

[Danderman]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240312390349/en/Lynk-Successfully-Deploys-Two-More-Orbital-%E2%80%98Cell-Phone-Towers-in-Space%E2%80%99

Lynk Successfully Deploys Two More Orbital ‘Cell Phone Towers in Space’

[Danderman]

https://lynk.world/news/lynk-announces-sat2phone-contract-with-u-s-government/

Lynk Announces Sat2Phone Contract with U.S. Government