Mobile network coverage could soon multiply thanks to satellites from Lynk Global and SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies). Three years ago, a commercially available mobile phone received a GSM message from space for the first time, from a Lynks test satellite. As early as next year, all of Canada, the second largest country in the world, should have mobile phone coverage everywhere under the open sky, which is sufficient for text messages with 4G and 5G cell phones. The Canadian telecommunications and media group Rogers has concluded a corresponding contract with Lynk Global.
Rogers operates Canada’s second largest mobile network, but it does not even cover 20 percent of the land area. So far, the network operator has even completely dispensed with network connections in the three huge, sparsely populated territories in northern Canada. The two competitors Telus and Bell Canada cooperate closely, but together they only cover 28.8 percent of the land area (according to their own statements). Some smaller network operators only operate regionally.
Now the situation is about to change completely. Rogers announced on Wednesday that it had signed contracts with both Lynk Global and Starlink operator SpaceX. Both companies are expected to bring cellular connectivity to Rogers customers across the country without the need for dedicated satellite handsets.
Lynk Global and SpaceX as partners
When SpaceX wants to provide this service is open. Lynk Global wants to cover Canada next year and the entire globe the year after. Together with Rogers, which holds the necessary frequency rights for Canada, Lynk wants to obtain the necessary operating licenses in the huge country.
What Lynk – in contrast to SpaceX – is also missing are the low-Earth satellites. There are currently only three commercially usable Lynk satellites in orbit at an altitude of about 530 km. Almost a thousand should be enough for the rudimentary supply of the entire globe, later it should even be around 5,000. Then, in addition to SMS, MMS, voice calls and broadband data transmission would also be possible.
Lynk has developed relatively small satellites and expects to be able to launch up to 72 satellites at a time on SpaceX rockets. Mathematically, 14 rocket launches would be enough for 1,000 satellites. Because none of this is cheap, Lynk will still have to convince some potent investors.
Funders wanted
And that’s where contracts like the one with Rogers help. At the beginning of the year, Lynk announced that it had already reached commercial agreements with 25 network operators in 41 countries. In the meantime, further contracts have been added; They are publicly known with Vodafone Ghana and Rogers. Tests are already underway in more than 20 countries on all seven continents; Rogers is conducting his Lynk satellite trials from a remote location in British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces of the monarchy.
Rogers does not reveal what costs customers will incur. Competition in the telecommunications market is weak in Canada; the country is considered the most expensive market in the developed world. On the other hand, there are signs of competition in the market for satellite telephony with normal mobile phones: AST Spacemobile recently made the first satellite telephone call with a normal mobile phone.
It remains to be seen which company will make the expensive leap from technical demonstrations to a well-oiled fleet of low-Earth (LEO) satellites. Apple is partnering with satellite operator Globalstar for its Emergency SOS SMS service. However, its satellites orbit the earth at a slightly greater distance, namely around 1,414 km.
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