Sateliot noted that this achievement paves the way for massive access to connectivity everywhere in the planet

Satellite-based 5G narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) wholesaler Sateliot, which operates a Low-Earth orbit (LEO) 5G IoT satellite constellation, and Spanish operator Telefónica said they have successfully extended the reach of the 5G network to space for the first time.

Sateliot noted that this achievement paves the way for massive access to connectivity everywhere in the planet, adding that the test was witnessed by the European Space Agency.

The achievement has been tested end-to-end by providing satellite coverage extension to Telefónica’s cellular network through standard GSMA roaming, the company said.

Sateliot said the end-to-end transmission over Telefónica’s network used a regular SIM card provisioned on the Kite platform of Telefónica Tech on an IoT cellular device, seamlessly switching it to Sateliot network. The test demonstrated that a standard roaming connection could be authenticated by the Telefónica core through Sateliot networks.

“Sateliot has achieved an important milestone by successfully demonstrating the integration of Low-Earth orbit and NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) with roaming capabilities in Store&Forward mode, along with two-step authenticationa 5G cellular network,¨ said Antonio Franchi, head of space for 5G and 6G strategic program at the European Space Agency. “The successful integration of these technologies paves the way for the digitalization of the world, revolutionizing how we harness satellite capabilities for the benefit of global connectivity and communication,” Franchi added.

The Store & Forward technology is part of a Sateliot 5G network with satellite access that stores data when the satellite is not in position to connect with a ground station and forwards it as entering the coverage range.

The company highlighted that the positive results of the demo confirm that 5G IoT devices are able to transmit data through a standard roaming interface using the Store & Forward two-step authentication method, which is important for the company’s expected timeline to be in commercial operation by 2024.

Marco Guadalupi, CTO of Sateliot, said: “This is the culmination of years of studies and developments of our Store & Forward two-step authentication procedure that gives Sateliot a unique position to establish roaming extension for NB-IoT NTN delay tolerant applications. We are in front of a game changer in future 3GPP networks that will reduce costs based on low density constellations and reduced ground segment infrastructure, minimizing the impact in space and reducing time to market.”

Sateliot is building an NB-IoT satellite system based on Release 17 specs in the 5G NR cellular standard. It has a deal with AWS to build a fully virtualized cloud-native 5G core for its NB-IoT satellite service. Sateliot wants to wholesale the service as a roaming extension for terrestrial mobile operators.