Viasat, EchoStar and Iridium hint at cellular-to-satellite interest

Companies like SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile, Globalstar and Lynk Global have been loudly discussing the possibility of connecting regular smartphones directly to their satellites. Indeed, Lynk recently boasted of $2.3 billion in commercial contracts with almost two dozen mobile network operators for direct cellular-to-satellite services. But they aren’t the only ones that expect to play in the market.

Executives from EchoStar, Viasat, Iridium, Sateliot and others said recently that they intend to play in the sector at some point, arguing that the opportunity is big enough to support a wide range of players.

“We are very focused on it. We understand the opportunity. We understand the size of the market perhaps better than anybody else,” said Hamid Akhavan, the new CEO of satellite operator EchoStar. He made his comments during the company’s recent quarterly conference call, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.

But despite the satellite companies’ bullish outlook, some analysts are cautioning patience.

“Spoiler alert – those fed up with their national wireless carriers shouldn’t look to satellite smartphone connectivity service to replace them,” wrote Jeff Johnston in an October report on the market from CoBank.

Johnston argued that established, terrestrial wireless network operators like T-Mobile and AT&T likely won’t see direct competition from space-based networks anytime soon. “Their core wireless business is not at risk of being cannibalized by satellite operators because the costs are enormous and unjustified,” he explained. “Instead, a better option for wireless operators would be to partner with Apple – and most likely Samsung – by bundling their satellite service with the carrier’s plans.”

A wait-and-see game

EchoStar’s Akhavan conceded that the smartphone-to-satellite market will take time to develop as phone-to-satellite technology standards are agreed upon and vendors develop suitable chipsets, phones and satellites. He suggested that the process will take several years to play out.

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