At MWC Barcelona, eyes on 5G NTN

BARCELONA—As 5G continues to evolve, the telecom industry is setting its sights on a new frontier: achieving global service ubiquity through a combination of cellular terrestrial networks and space-based, non-terrestrial networks.

At booths around the show, Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets were on display, enabling 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks demonstrations of both the NB-IoT, 5G and 5G-Advanced variety, with additional news on 5G NTN chip development acceleration from the likes of Ceva and Arm. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency and GSMA Foundry announced a partnership that includes up to 15 million euros in funding for tech challenges related to NTN, lab access, a GSMA training course to familiarize people with both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks and work around “ecosystem unification.”

Now, to be sure, the MWC demos were largely the purview of test and measurement companies and the chipset companies themselves, but operators have already been demonstrating their interest in direct-to-cellular technology with the likes of T-Mobile US’ deal with Starlink for emergency connectivity and AT&T’s investment (along with Vodafone, and Google) in AST SpaceMobile. The general consensus seems to be that 2024 will largely be a year focused on testing, with services to follow as enough satellites get launched to provide consistent service.

However, a number of things have changed in the ecosystem to support real convergence of cellular and satellite systems, according to a panel during the standing-room-only Satellite and NTN Summit event at MWC Barcelona.

Those include the decreasing cost of satellite launches and chipsets, but also the provision in 3GPP standards for NTN integration as part of cellular networks. “Satellite technology has been out there for like 30 years—it’s mature technology, reliable and robust,” said Dave Roscoe, EVP of satellite communications and products at satellite and cellular IoT provider Orbcomm. But even 10 years ago, he continued, if you mentioned satellite, it was assumed to be an expensive solution. “Over time, we’ve seen a lot of good innovation and technology cutting down the costs,” he said.

Libby Barr, chief operating officer of satellite company Avanti, summed up satellite’s changing profile in two words: Elon Musk. The success of Starlink and SpaceX have made more people aware of the possibilities and capabilities offered by space-based technologies, she added.

AT&T was close-lipped at the show about its go-to-market plans for monetizing the NTN connectivity that it will be testing during 2024 with AST SpaceMobile. Will NTN services be consumer-focused and related to emergency communications, disaster/recovery/government-focused as part of AT&T’s FirstNet offering, or perhaps with automotive in mind? Is NTN connectivity likely to be added to a service bundle or available on-demand, like international roaming daily access? The NTN Summit panel, however, did take some time to debate whether the NTN opportunity is more likely to lean in the direction of consumer services or enterprise—and enterprise was seen as the more valuable opportunity, although it will be a balance between both markets. A variety of businesses are interested in better coverage and connectivity, panelists said, and the combination of cellular + NTN promises both the reach of satellite, with the opportunity to switch to lower-cost terrestrial cellular when and where it is available—lowering the overall cost of solutions for use cases such as asset tracking, logistics, fleet tracking and telematics, and so on. And as Comtech President and CEO Ken Peterman put it in remarks at the NTN Summit, once businesses get access to the type of data that helps them refine their operations and reduce costs, “They will want more, and they will want more.”