Lynk updates on testing, approvals for 5G from space

Startup Lynk said it has been testing its service across hundreds of phones per minute, and that it expects to soon receive regulatory approvals for its plans to offer cellular connections from space.

The company also disclosed what will likely be its first commercial offering: ten-cent text messages in locations without cellular coverage.

“Lynk is repeatedly registering hundreds of mobile phones per minute. We have done so in three different countries (US, UK and Bahamas),” the company’s CEO, Charles Miller, wrote in response to questions from Light Reading.

Miller’s responses dovetail with comments he provided to Payload, a publication that tracks the space industry. Miller said Lynk is working with two unnamed mobile network operators (MNOs) in the US as the company’s satellites pass over the Eastern seaboard. He said the company’s satellites have been registering phones in that location that are not covered by terrestrial networks. All of those unconnected mobile users could be serviced by Lynk’s satellites, Miller explained.

He also said that Lynk has officially filed an application with the FCC to launch commercial services. He said that none of the big US mobile network operators have voiced opposition to Lynk’s plans in comments to the agency. “It looks like they kind of actually like what we’re doing,” he said of the operators.

Miller reiterated that Lynk is hoping to launch commercial services by next year, and that it’s planning to do so with roughly a dozen mobile network operators around the world.

To read the complete article, visit Light Reading.