There is not a single regulatory framework that addresses mobile cellular devices with satellite capabilities – this unaddressed dichotomy belongs to the past. National satellite service licensing frameworks need to be flexible enough to allow for the smartphones of the present, because satellite direct-to-handset connectivity is an industry development that is here to stay. Traditional…

The path that satellite constellation operator Globalstar took to signing Apple as its largest customer in history this past summer started with a crisis that happened 15 years ago. After launching the first generation of its SPOT satellites, the company experienced technical issues that rendered the intended SPOT two-way service into a one-way service. In the…

At any given moment around the world, 15 percent of the planet’s 5.2 billion mobile phone users are not connected, according to research conducted by Lynk, the first company to demonstrate a satellite-to-mobile-phone satellite constellation. What if those disconnections – from being in a remote area far from terrestrial signals or cut off from cell…

Apple announced Tuesday that its emergency SOS service via satellite is now available with the iPhone 14 in the U.S. and Canada. The service is set to start in France, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom in December. The service allows customers to contact emergency services when they are outside cellular networks by connecting to…