Lynk, Rogers complete first sat-to-phone voice call in Canada

Canadian carrier Rogers Communications announced that it complete the first satellite-direct-to-cell (Sat2Phone) voice call via low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites owned by Lynk Global, which is scheduled to launch commercial Sat2Phone service in Canada with Rogers during 2024.

Lynk CEO Charles Miller said phone call was between Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey (pictured above, on the right) and a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Search and Rescue Association, who was located beyond the coverage footprint of Rogers’ terrestrial network. The call leveraged Rogers’ spectrum and Lynk LEO satellites that act as cellular towers in space that work with ordinary smart devices on the ground, according to a press release from Rogers.

“We had a bunch of tests up in Canada,” Miller said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We did text, data, emergency alerts, and we also did a voice call. The premier from Newfoundland and a search-and-rescue volunteer talked over voice through the Lynk satellite … They had a call in an area with zero coverage, and it went perfectly.”

Miller noted the importance of the successful voice-call test and next year’s launch of Sat2Phone service in Canada.

“This is a huge safety issue in Canada, where rural remote areas don’t have coverage,” Miller said. “Finding people quickly is a critical issue to saving their lives. If you can find them, you can save them … often, it’s finding them that’s the hard part.

“This is a huge benefit to saving lives—to eliminate the ‘search’ out of ‘search and rescue,’ then they can just be the rescue team. Everybody’s got a phone in their pocket, so this is going to be a big deal.”

Rogers President and CEO Tony Staffieri echoed this sentiment.

“We’re bringing coverage to Canada’s most remote areas to improve public safety and to connect communities that aren’t connected today,” said Tony Staffieri, President and CEO, Rogers. “We’re proud to work with Lynk to bring Canadians the very latest global technology that will give them access to 911 and wireless services.”

Furey also highlighted the potential significance that Sat2Phone technology could have on people in his province, particularly those in remote areas.

“Newfoundland and Labrador is a vast, largely rural province, and connectivity is an important issue for us,” Furey said in a prepared statement. “As Premier, I am excited about the breakthrough technology Rogers is testing to improve network coverage and the safety of people in our province and across the country.”

Furey used a Samsung S22 smartphone to make the call, but Miller noted that Lynk’s Sat2Phone technology “will work on all phones” that operate on a cellular network.

Miller said Lynk officials would like to conduct a similar test of its Sat2Phone technology in the United States, preferably with a state governor calling a first responder. Lynk has received some proposals for the first such test, but he said that others with suggestions are welcome to e-mail recommendations to [email protected].

While Rogers will launch Sat2Phone service in Canada next year, carriers already are operational with Lynk in the Bahamas, Cook Islands, Palau, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, according to a Lynk spokesperson.

Rogers announced its plans to offer Sat2Phone services with Lynk next year, although it has not yet specified when during 2024 that will happen. Initial functionalities will begin with SMS texting, mass notifications and machine-to-machine artificial-intelligence (AI) applications, according to the Rogers press release.

More robust capabilities like voice and data services will be offered as the Lynk LEO constellation expands from its current three satellites—something Miller said will happen rapidly during the next few years.

“We’re planning to launch a whole bunch [of satellites] next year, even more in 2025 and ramping up from there,” Miller said.

Lynk’s ability to provide continuous global coverage with broadband service is “about three years out,” Miller has said. Lynk officials previously have stated that it will take several hundred LEO satellites to reach this threshold.

For the first responders and the rest of the critical-communications industry, the potential impact of Sat2Phone technology being successful is significant.

“This is going to happen,” Miller has said. “This service is inevitable. It’s not inevitable that it’s going to be Lynk, but this service is inevitable, and it’s going to have big implications on public safety.”

Indeed, AST SpaceMobile—a company with a similar business model as Lynk but a very different satellite architecture—has conducted Sat2Phone tests with Vodafone and AT&T, including tests leveraging the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to the FirstNet Authority. T-Mobile last year announced plans to develop Sat2Phone services with SpaceX using 1.9 GHz spectrum.