TAMPA, Fla. — Viasat is within the early stages of exploring methods to use L-band spectrum from newly acquired Inmarsat to attach consumer devices directly from space, including potentially from small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
“We’re still exploring what our roadmap and execution plan must be,” Viasat president Guru Gowrappan said in an interview Aug. 10, “but it surely’s a crucial priority.”
Gowrappan said buying Inmarsat in May gave Viasat the biggest global swathe of coordinated L-band spectrum, which he sees as a critical component for expanding in an emerging marketplace for direct-to-device services.
Smartphones launched earlier this 12 months by British ruggedized handset maker Bullitt use Inmarsat’s existing satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) to send and receive text messages outside cellular coverage.
Nevertheless, many of the phones Inmarsat currently connects via L-band are specialized devices with bulky antennas.
Many recent ventures looking to comprehend a direct-to-device market that’s being pioneered by Globalstar’s partnership with Apple are planning satellites in LEO, which guarantees lower latency services.
Viasat chair and CEO Mark Dankberg said in February that the operator is considering direct-to-device services using satellites in geostationary and non-geostationary orbits, including by potentially partnering with one other operator.
Dankberg said during Viasat’s Aug. 9 earnings call that the corporate stays optimistic concerning the potential for direct-to-device services, and is working on addressing the market from multiple perspectives.
A growing marketplace for connecting standard consumer devices on to satellites will even increase demand for more bespoke mobile terminals, he added, needed to support higher bandwidth applications.
The direct-to-device market is “going to play out over several years,” in response to Dankberg.
Gowrappan declined to debate the choices Viasat is considering, but said the corporate is closely watching evolving smartphone chip standards that will probably be essential for delivering higher bandwidth services from space.
Viasat’s foray into direct-to-device comes as the corporate wrestles with an antenna failure that would ultimately sideline its recently launched ViaSat-3 Americas GEO broadband satellite.
The “anomaly has our attention but it surely doesn’t define us,” Gowrappan said, pointing to how its Inmarsat acquisition has helped diversify the group’s offerings far beyond fixed broadband services.