Intelsat Gets One Step Closer to Always-On Connectivity

Intelsat added new elements, including its own standalone 5G core and partnerships with mobile industry players, to provide connectivity across terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. The company’s goal is to provide always-on service for connected vehicles using public 5G and IoT connectivity for agriculture, mining, and construction in remote locations. For cars, it plans for connectivity to automatically move from cellular to satellite as needed.

Blane Boynton, VP of product development at Intelsat, said the company kicked off its next-generation network program about three years ago. The company partnered with Mavenir for its SA 5G core and is working with Kratos to unify ground and space systems. Last year, Kratos teamed with RAN player Radisys to develop technologies for satellite signal processing based on open standards, using software for orchestration across terrestrial and NTN.

Before providing connectivity services, Intelsat is waiting for 3GPP’s Release 19 to be finalized, which could happen by the end of this year. “We conceived a design for us for a Ku-band satellite network that is 3GPP compliant in terms of using the 5G waveform, and then it’s completely orchestrated and managed using standard 5G equipment,” Boynton said.

The SA 5G core will orchestrate user equipment and bandwidth in Intelsat’s satellite terminals. “We’ve never run a 5G core before, and we’re working at understanding how to use it,” Boynton said. “You have these companies that are looking for an always-on option, and that’s where satellite becomes a good option for them. And to the extent that we can integrate satellite with the MNOs in a region, it makes it a much easier solution to sell.”

Unlike Starlink’s 4G-based service and Globalstar’s closed system for Apple devices, Intelsat wants to be inclusive by creating a standards-based platform. “Today we use bespoke modem chips and cards principally from several vendors,” Boynton added, noting that eventually it intends to use a 5G chip when the standard supports it. “We need Release 19 to get there because that’s when we get Ku-band support for NTN.”

Intelsat inked a memorandum of understanding last month with Soft Bank Group-owned Cubic, which includes a vehicle satellite connectivity test using the latter’s software platform. In parallel to its 3GPP-based network, Intelsat ordered software-defined birds, which Boynton expects will be delivered in about two years. “Those satellites have a very flexible payload that allows us to follow things and change the coverage of the footprint of the satellite on a time frame of a minute or two,” he explained. “These software-defined satellites have a field of regard, and you can program these digitally to change.”