Satellite phones have been used before, but they were thwarted by several factors, including formidable costs, viability, and the few users who could afford them.
The mega project became a white elephant and was abandoned in a huff.
However, new technological breakthroughs have overcome earlier bottlenecks, and now we may soon be owners of affordable satellite phones, which will have telling ramifications for our local phone service providers.
This article chronicles the history of Satellite phones and traces the latest developments, which should give us a sense of optimism that we may soon resolve past hindrances to operating and owning satellite-linked phones.
A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio link through satellites orbiting the Earth instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cell phones do.
Therefore, they can work in most geographic locations on the Earth’s surface, as long as the sky is open and the line of sight between the phone and the satellite is provided.
Coverage may include the entire Earth or only specific regions depending on the architecture of a particular system.
Satellite phones provide similar functionality to terrestrial mobile telephones; most systems support voice calling, text messaging, and low-bandwidth Internet access.
The advantage of a satellite phone is that it can be used in regions where local terrestrial communication infrastructures, such as landline and cellular networks, are unavailable.
Satellite phone systems can be classified into two types: systems that use satellites in a high geostationary orbit, 35,786 kilometres (22,236 miles) above the Earth’s surface, and systems that use satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), 640 to 1,120 kilometres (400 to 700 miles) above the Earth.
Geostationary satellites have their ups and downs too.
These satellites are huge, expensive to construct and launch, and can suffer signal losses caused by obstructions such as challenging landscapes, trees, and clouds.
Connectivity lineup issues between a satellite phone and an overhead satellite can also be very frustrating. Satellites in low-earth orbit may utilize satellites in low-earth orbit.
The advantages include providing non-interference worldwide coverage. Mobile satellites take turns handling data transfer between the phone and the satellites, assuring continuity and improved services.
READ RELATED: Starlink Expansion in Tanzania: Internet Savior or Controversial Intruder?
Initially based in the United States, these two systems started in the late 1990s but soon went bankrupt after failing to gain enough subscribers to fund launch costs.
They are now operated by new owners who bought the assets for a fraction of their original cost and plan to launch replacement constellations supporting higher bandwidth.
Data speeds for current networks are between 2200 and 9600 bit/s using a satellite handset.
A third system involving T-Mobile was announced in 2022 and has been approved by the FCC.
US and SpaceX. The service aims to provide dead-zone cell phone coverage across the US using the existing mid-band PCS spectrum that T-Mobile owns.
Cell coverage will begin with messaging and include voice and limited data services later. Testing was scheduled to begin in 2023 but was hampered by regulatory inertia.
With Starlink Gen2 satellites in low Earth orbit using existing PCS spectrum, T-Mobile plans to be able to connect ordinary mobile phones to satellites, unlike earlier satellite phones in the market, which used specialized radios to connect to geosynchronous-orbit satellites, which have longer communications latencies.
T-Mobile has offered to extend the offering globally if cellular carriers in other countries wish to exchange roaming services via the T-Mobile partnership with SpaceX. Other carriers will work with their regulators to enable mid-band communications landing rights country-by-country.
Bandwidth will be limited to approximately 2 to 4 megabits per second spread across a very large cell coverage area, with thousands of voice calls or millions of text messages simultaneously in an area.
The size of a single coverage area has not yet been specified.
The initial cost of satellite phones remains an issue, but the cost of the calls is no longer a barrier because of the advancement of apps.
With access to the Internet, data calls can be channelled through apps instead of going through costly wireless connections.
Mobile-T US and SpaceX’s challenge is whether they can add satellite service to phones without pricing themselves out of the market.
The T-Mobile US and SpaceX deal arrangement may not be attractive in developing countries such as Tanzania because of its tie-in sale, in which customers are forced to buy services they may not necessarily need, such as monthly minimum calls and SMS.
In developing countries such as Tanzania, monthly fees to maintain a phone line have proven counterproductive because many clients cannot afford them and are pushed to discontinue accessing their valuable phone services.
Chinese companies are also intent on exploring this market.
Chinese companies plan to launch tens of thousands of satellites in space and rival Starlink’s monopoly.
This is good news, given that Huawei is also considering making satellite phones that will take advantage of those low-orbiting flying satellites.
Huawei does not charge monthly fees to operate its phones, which suits our budgets. Additional satellite functionality will add value to developing world users.
The developed world, particularly the US and its orbit, is aware of the rivalry Chinese companies are touting before them.
This explains why the US sanctions Chinese tech companies from accessing Western technologies.
It is a losing war as Chinese companies do not need to pay higher wages for high-tech foreigners who are willing to work for them.
The Chinese government clears those wages. Subsidies irk the US, for China is willing to pay three to four times the salaries Western companies are paying their highly valuable tech staff.
It is a rare brain drain from North to South. Over time, Chinese companies will be able to produce satellite phones that provide fast Internet data, a barrier to operating satellite phones.
Phone calls and SMS can easily be handled by apps growing in popularity and usage.
In as little as three to four years, we may be owners of satellite phones and perhaps satellite-linked laptops at a reasonable cost.
It is a mouthwatering proposition not very far on the horizon.
Tanzania’s priorities ought to shift from weather satellites whose data can cheaply be bought in the market to heavily investing in Starlink satellites, which will significantly reduce the cost of Internet data access and act as a springboard to using it as a tool of economic transformation.
The tech future prefers phone operators to be the makers of those phones. The future will likely elbow out local phone operators because their investments in cellular networks will be rendered obsolete.
Local telephone operators are sitting on their laurels, not taking note that the tech rug has shifted beneath their tiny feet.
They are reaping huge profits without thinking of the future where their business is routed.
In a few years, they will find phone manufacturers have taken over their franchise, and there will be no path to reclaim their lost glory days.
Without imagination, hard work, and reinvestment, history is a rude reminder that you will either shape in or be shipped out.
Will local intercellular network service providers wake up, or will they be sent to bankruptcy and an earlier cemetery? It is a matter of waiting and seeing.
