Global satellite operator Viasat said on Wednesday it has demonstrated its direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity technology for the first time in the United Arab Emirates, marking its third such demo in the last two months.
The demo took place at the headquarters of the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) on the sidelines of this week’s Abu Dhabi Space Debate event.
Viasat sent text and SOS messages over two of its L-band satellites above Asia via its gateways, which have been upgraded by Viasat’s ecosystem partner Skylo to support 3GPP standards-based non-terrestrial network (NTN) under Release 17, which supports narrowband services like messaging and IoT communications.
The tests used a commercial Android smartphone enabled for NTN connectivity with an over-the-top messaging application.
Viasat first demoed its D2D technology in India in collaboration with state-owned operator BSNL in October. At the end of November, it staged a D2D demo in Saudi Arabia.
Viasat said it is continuing to work with a range of ecosystem partners and international regulators to highlight the feasibility for D2D applications.
D2D satellite connectivity is fast becoming a hot item as high-profile companies like Starlink and startups such as Lynk Global, AST Spacemobile and Geespace make plans to bring mobile connectivity in underserved and unserved areas. This week, AST Spacemobile signed a ten-year commercial agreement with Vodafone Group to roll out its services in Vodafone’s markets worldwide.
Viasat’s offering differs from these in that it uses geostationary satellites rather than LEO satellites, and uses L-band frequencies allocated for mobile satellite services (MSS) rather than existing terrestrial mobile spectrum.
LEOsat players say they have the advantage of lower latency and using spectrum that enables customers to use their existing mobile phones to access the service.
However, Viasat argues that using operator spectrum also means clearing local regulatory hurdles, as well as dealing with interference mitigation. Viasat claims that using MSS spectrum enables mobile operators to integrate D2D satellite offerings into their service areas without having to sacrifice some terrestrial spectrum for D2D services.
Viasat launched the Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA) in February 2024 along with Terrestar Solutions, Ligado Networks, Omnispace and Yahsat (now Space42) to develop a D2D ecosystem of terrestrial mobile and satellite operators, OEMs, infrastructure, chip vendors, and others to support MSS-based D2D satellite services.
