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Skylo: Emergency D2D services today, 'essential' and 'enhanced' services to followSkylo: Emergency D2D services today, 'essential' and 'enhanced' services to follow
Skylo fleshed out its vision for direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services at the CES gadget fest in Las Vegas. After starting with emergency services, the company is setting its sights on voice calls and, later, enhanced 5G-like services.
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Skylo demonstrated some of its baseline texting capabilities at a press event held at the Las Vegas Country Club.Source: Jeff Baumgartner/Light Reading
Skylo execs held court at CES in Las Vegas to discuss the company's direct-to-device (D2D) vision for keeping smartphones connected where cellular networks are lacking and to provide details about an apps and services roadmap that is starting with baseline emergency services.
The initial emergency services include text messaging and location sharing, but Skylo is working to expand them this year to include "essential" services that can be delivered over satellite such as AI-assisted chats and voice calls, Pete Saladino, Skylo's head of marketing, said today at a press event.
Further out, Skylo will shift to "enhanced" services that are more akin to a fuller suite of apps and services that people can typically get out of their smartphones today.
Emergency services delivered via Skylo's platform (sold on a wholesale basis) are offered today for free on devices such as Google's Pixel 9. (Skylo said it is the first satellite-based solution for Android 15 to be natively integrated on the Pixel 9.) Verizon, for example, confirmed last year that it will not charge for that capability via Skylo's platform. However, mobile network operators will set pricing on other types of D2D services and apps supported by Skylo, Saladino said.
Skylo will also support Samsung's coming Galaxy S25 series and will be used by carriers to complement satellite services on Apple's iOS 18 platform. The Skylo service relies on dedicated, licensed mobile satellite spectrum from its partners, and effectively runs as an overlay atop the terrestrial mobile network, an architecture that strives to avoid D2D interference concerns.
Early days for D2D
Skylo execs acknowledged that the D2D offering is still in its early phases. It's been certified with chipsets from Qualcomm (the Snapdragon X80) and Samsung (Exynos Modem 5400), with more on the horizon.
To read the complete article, visit Light Reading.
