Lynk Global (formerly Ubiquitilink)

[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.