Satellite broadband internet service providers like Elon Musk’s Starlink are nascent in their development and still years away from being cost effective enough for mass market adoption.

Direct-to-mobile solutions, on the other hand, are likely to have more disruptive effects on the marketplace, with mobile operators expected to experiment widely with the technology in 2024.

This is according to the latest SA Broadband Report by research and advisory firm BMIT, published this week.

With direct-to-mobile services, subscribers can access satellite via their existing LTE/5G handsets and on their existing mobile subscriptions, said BMIT MD Chris Geerdts in a statement. “This is a potential gamechanger as the country will then have 100% outdoor coverage and service downtime will be reduced.”

According to Geerdts, South African mobile operators will initially limit their direct-to-mobile services to SMS and gradually expand to include higher bandwidth services such as voice and streaming as the technology matures.

BMIT’s perspective has been echoed by others in the industry. Speculation about the nature of the relationship between satellite providers and the mobile operators has suggested the two could end up competing head on, but industry experts expect cooperation.

100% coverage

“With partnerships between Vodacom and the satellite providers, we can provide 100% coverage. So, satellite can play a big role in the transformation of Africa because we still have a lot of areas that are unconnected,” Dejan Kastelic, Vodacom Group chief technology officer, said at a media roundtable event in November.

US-based Lynk Global is one of the companies leading the charge in the direct-to-mobile space. The firm has partnered with both Vodacom and MTN for trials of the technology in different parts of Africa, including South Africa, Ghana and Liberia. “We’re the only company on the planet that has patented, proven and is commercially licensed to handle sat-to-phone,” Lynk Global chief commercial officer Dan Dooley told TechCentral in an interview.

Read: Cell towers in space: inside the race to connect planet Earth

Competition is hotting up, however. Starlink, the SpaceX subsidiary, announced in January that it had launched its first set of satellites with direct-to-mobile capability. The company has partnered with T-Mobile USA to provide services to certain parts of the US. — © 2024 NewsCentral Media