Qualcomm in talks with Musk's Starlink and others on changes needed for mobile satellite services
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest maker of smartphone chips, is in talks with top satellite companies, including Elon Musk’s Starlink, on changes required in smartphone chipsets and software elements to enable mobile satellite services on future Android devices.
The San Diego-based chipmaker is exploring the feasibility of potential technology solutions like narrow-band non-terrestrial networks (NTN) which could make it possible for mobile devices to talk to satellite systems and, in turn, offer fast wireless broadband connectivity to people outside the coverage area of terrestrial networks.
“A lot of activity is underway at Qualcomm on ways to reach people who are out of the terrestrial coverage area… we’re collaborating with companies like Starlink on potential solutions like narrow-band NTN, which is almost like doing 4G, but having it come from a satellite system instead of a 4G base station,” Chris Patrick, general manager of mobile
handsets, Qualcomm Technologies Inc, told ET.
Qualcomm Technologies is the research and development arm of the US-based smartphone chipmaker.
Patrick, though, said ringing in mobile satellite services via solutions like narrow-band NTN would require changes in a mobile phone’s chipset and software elements, even as the intent is to use satellite constellations and bind them closely with existing cellular infrastructure.
“That’s where developments are underway at Qualcomm to build in the wireless satellite service functionality into the next wave of Android devices… but there’s a lot of work that has to be done on the device, and the jury’s still out on how these systems will function in real life,” he said.
The comments come at a time when India is considering a recent proposal of
