Soon, you will be able to use satcom services on your phone; here's how

Over the next few years, as the broadband-from-space service gathers pace, consumers can look forward to using their mobile phones for satellite communications. Chipmakers Qualcomm and MediaTek told The Economic Times (ET) that they already have come up with chipsets supporting satellite connectivity.

MediaTek managing director Anku Jain told ET that their chipsets support satellite connectivity and are currently catering to the niche market, but it is expected that these chips will cater to mainstream consumers and businesses in the near future.

He also said that MediaTek has stuck to the 3GPP standards for designing satcom chipsets so that there is interoperability in the long run.  More OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) need to adopt it for the technology to reach its mainstream potential.

More OEMs are seen incorporating the technology in their devices. At the present moment, there are 5-6 devices available in the global market that provide support for satellite connectivity.

Qualcomm India President Savi Soin was quoted as saying by ET the question is who will provide the satellite constellation and if that constellation is compliant with India.

According to experts, there would be better interoperability, if the majority of satellite operators and OEM makers adopt global open standards.

At the present moment,  Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Amazon, etc., are pushing for their standards. Soin said that they are focusing on proprietary standards as they want to make money.

 This will pave the way for firms to offer satellite wireless connectivity to consumers having handsets enabled by the technology.

Jio Satellite and OneWeb have already secured the GMPCS licence, while Starlink's application is under review. The Centre is soon expected to give mobility services authorisation to GMPCS licence holders Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.  This will open the way for firms to provide satellite wireless connectivity to consumers having handsets enabled for the technology.