2degrees starts ‘cell tower in space’ trial in Nelson - what customers can expect

2degrees has begun trials of a satellite-to-mobile service for a small number of customers in Nelson this week.

The so-called “cell tower in space” trial uses satellites from US start-up Lynk - which orbit just 500km above the Earth, or close enough for them to send a regular 5G signal that can be received by a stock standard Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or any other recent phone (historically, satellite telephony has involved geosynchronous satellites orbiting at around 30,000km and requiring brick-sized, specialised sat-phones).

2degrees chief executive Mark Callander freely admits the service will be limited during the pilot.

Customers will only be able to send and receive texts when a Lynk satellite is overhead - which will vary but will be about three times a day, with each pass providing a window of only a few minutes to message.

But Callander says testing the service “in the wild” is an important stepping stone.

Today, cell tower networks cover around 99 per cent of the places people live, but only about 50 per cent of NZ by geography. The promise of satellite-to-mobile is the ability to text (and eventually voice call or use the internet on your phone) from nearly anywhere.

Today Lynk has just three satellites in orbit compared to Starlink’s 5000 or so.

But it is aiming for 50 by the end of next year, 300 by the end of 2026 and 5110 by 2028 (with propulsion systems made by New Zealand’s Dawn Aerospace).

As Lynk gets more birds in the sky, service will get more and more frequent until it’s ubiquitous.

2degrees says there’s no target yet for a commercial launch date.

Callander says the technology is still in its infancy, but he wants to keep customers up-to-date with progress.

“Currently, the availability of the service is very limited [but] we want to be clear with customers that we are at the cutting edge here,” the 2degrees boss said.

“The service is currently only available in the Nelson region and will only be accessible for small windows of time while a satellite is passing overhead. But, that said, despite the limitations, it’s seriously cool. It’s rocket science – we are sending messages via a cell tower flying at around 27,000km/h almost 500km above the Earth.”

Lynk and 2degrees demonstrated what was billed as a “world-first” voice call via satellite (at least, a first for a stock-standard phone) in July, after earlier successfully testing text via satellite from a blackspot 30 minutes north of Whanganui.

Lynk hooks up with A-Rod

Lynk, which has previously raised around US$35 million in venture capital, has previously said it would use revenue from its telco customers to fund growth.

Earlier this week, it announced plans for a merger with Slam Corp - a blank cheque investment vehicle or spac (special-purpose acquisition corporation) founded by former US professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez, aka “A-Rod”. In a statement, the two firms said they plan to list their merged entity on the Nasdaq by the end of 2024, with a valuation of “no less than US$800m” ($1.6 billion).

Amazon’s Project Kuiper will taken on Elon Musk’s SpaceX with thousands of low Earth orbit satellites for broadband anywhere. AWS CEO Adam Selipsky says two prototype satellites launched last month are performing well. Consumer + dedicated enterprise Internet, with first customer… pic.twitter.com/KIrdLvAV1S

— Chris Keall (@ChrisKeall) November 28, 2023

More competition is coming. At the recent re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, AWS (Amazon Web Services) chief executive Adam Selipsky said Amazon had just launched two prototype satellites for its putative Starlink rival, Project Kuiper. Consumer trials are expected in the second half of next year.

Spark tests in Kawakawa

Spark is also partnering with Lynk.

Last month, Spark engineers sent a text from a standard mobile, positioned in a mobile blackspot near Kawakawa Bay in Auckland, via one of the US firm’s satellites.

“We have urged some caution around the hype, as it is important for customers to understand what the technology can and can’t do, and the likely timeline for it to develop,” a Spark spokeswoman said.

One NZ update on Starlink partnership

One NZ is partnering with Elon Musk’s Starlink (part of SpaceX). It has some 5000 satellites already in low-Earth orbit but needs larger “Version 2″ satellites to support satellite-to-mobile calling.

The first V2s were scheduled to launch by the end of this year, but SpaceX’s Starship rocket has yet to stage its first commercial flight, with two test launches ending in failure.

One NZ says it’s still confident it can launch a texting-via-satellite service by the end of next year. Starlink has developed a V2 Mini design that can be accommodated on its smaller Falcon rocket - although it will need the Starship to launch the full-blooded V2, which will be required for voice and data.

SpaceX is targeting December 29 for a Falcon 9 launch that includes the first six Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capabilities.

“One NZ and SpaceX remain on track to deliver satellite-to-cell connectivity across New Zealand starting in late 2024 with text messaging and followed by voice and data in 2025. The service will enable our customers to connect in areas outside of normal coverage areas and will transform how people stay in touch,” One NZ spokesman Conor Roberts said this morning.

“We’ve committed to only launching a commercial service when there are enough satellites in the sky to ensure you can send a text and receive a reply in a couple of minutes.

“We’re confident SpaceX has the capabilities, know-how and funding to deliver the number of satellites into space required to deliver a useable service to our customers.”

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.