Nextivity supports satellite-direct-to-phone operations on FirstNet spectrum, looks to upgrade HPUE next year

Nextivity has told the FCC that it supports the notion of using high-power-user-equipment (HPUE) in conjunction with supplemental coverage from space (SCS) on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to the FirstNet Authority, and CEO Michiel Lotter said the company hopes to unveil “next-generation” HPUE in 2024.

Nextivity submitted its comments to the FCC as part of the SCS proceeding less than five months after purchasing Assured Wireless, the company that pioneered the HPUE technology that transmits signal with six times the power of normal cellular devices. With this additional power, HPUE—usable only on Band 14 airwaves in the U.S.—improves link budgets, resulting in greater data throughputs and an 80% increase in the effective range of a device.

SCS—also known as satellite-direct-to-phone or direct-to-device technology—is one of the hottest topics in the communications arena, because it promises to eliminate virtually all outdoor coverage gaps by using low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites as cell towers when a user is outside the footprint of a carrier’s terrestrial network.

Lotter said that using HPUE in combination with SCS could enhance the link budget to the LEO satellite, which would be beneficial to the public-safety responders operating on the Band 14 spectrum licensed to the FirstNet Authority.

“We are in the business of keeping people connected, and we want to keep them connected as long as possible,” Lotter said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We felt that this resurgence around space-based coverage mixes really well with the HPUE side of things, because we obviously have additional link budget available to us to allow us a little bit better throughput than you would typically be able to have with just the standard handset.

“Of course, in first-responder applications, that could potentially be a game-changer, in terms of keeping folks connected, wherever they are.”

AT&T has asked the FCC for permission to use SCS technology from AST SpaceMobile on some of its commercial spectrum. AT&T has conducted satellite-direct-to-phone tests with AST SpaceMobile on Band 14 spectrum, but the nationwide spectrum license for the airwaves belongs to the FirstNet Authority.

In its comments to the FCC, Nextivity expressed its support to allow SCS operation across the Band 14 airwaves that are the only frequencies in the U.S. that allow full-power HPUE.

”Nextivity agrees with AT&T and AST SpaceMobile that the public interest would be served by extending the opportunity to provide FirstNet coverage from space in the vast geographies of our country that remain uncovered,” according to Nextivity’s FCC filing. “Enabling this potential coverage solution is critical to fulfilling the fundamental vision of FirstNet. The notion of an ever-evolving network that grows to provide broadband access to first responders is built into the very establishment of FirstNet with the enabling statute calling for a ‘… single, national network architecture that evolves with technological advancements…’

“We believe the combination of SCS and HPUE technology has the capability to provide national coverage quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively for first responders with no significant potential for harmful interference or significant cost disadvantages. The additional 8 dBm of output power that is made available using an HPUE has the potential to improve the signal-to-noise-ratio (“SINR”) in the direction to the satellite by 8 dB which will result in improved uplink data rates.”

Meanwhile, Lotter said that Nextivity is developing a “next-generation” HPUE technology that he hopes will be available during the first half of 2024.

“There are certainly value points that we believe HPUE can bring, and we want to maximize that,” Lotter said. “You can expect something definitely in the first half of next year. And you can expect some innovation from our side, in terms of usability, form factor, etc., to make it possible for you to use HPUE technology across a much broader range of applications than we’ve seen in the past.

“Our goal is to make HPUE as widely available as possible and to be able to use it across the broadest range of applications that we can.”