Lynk Proves Direct Two-way Satellite-to-Mobile-Phone Connectivity

Sept. 29, 2021

 Lynk Global, Inc. has registered hundreds of unmodified mobile phones to its 5th cell-tower-in-space in three different countries (UK, US and Bahamas). This critical milestone conclusively proves Lynk’s proprietary core satellite technology works with ordinary mobile phones on Earth, enabling broadband, voice and text messaging — from everywhere — with the phone in your pocket.

Lynk’s 5th satellite (named “Shannon”) launched on June 30, 2021 has connected with, and registered, hundreds of mobile phones in initial tests, even in Virginia where Lynk connected in spite of the “noise” created by millions of mobile phones. Lynk has successfully repeated the tests in the United Kingdom, with testing permission from Ofcom, and in the Bahamas with the support of mobile network operator (MNO) partner Aliv. This proves that Lynk has solved the last major technology barrier to connecting everybody, everywhere with a standard mobile phone. Lynk is the world’s only independently certified provider of cell-tower-in-space connectivity.

“Lynk has provided independent testing data that proves they are connecting existing Aliv devices that roam onto the Lynk system on areas outside the Aliv coverage footprint in the Bahamas” said Dr. Stephen Curran, Aliv’s CTO. “The testing has proven the technology’s ability to simultaneously register and authenticate mobile devices. Lynk will provide a critical maritime communication service for our users. The Caribbean is also known for extreme weather events, and for earthquakes. Lynk will assist Aliv in providing emergency communications back-up when the network experiences major issues, and our sites are down.”

“Six years ago, the entire world thought it was impossible for a satellite to connect two-ways to existing mobile phones in use today,” says Charles Miller, Lynk’s CEO and cofounder. “Lynk has now done the impossible. We recently announced the first operators to sign up for our Flagship Carrier Program, Aliv in the Bahamas and Telecel Centrafique in the Central African Republic. These and others will launch commercial services in their countries in July 2022, beginning our journey to serve the unconnected around the world.” 

"Lynk has solved the ‘Uplink Challenge’” explained Lynk CTO and cofounder, Tyghe Speidel. “Our 5th satellite has successfully completed it’s commissioning tests which includes our antenna and core mobile processing tests demonstrating the ability to receive and process signals from terrestrial subscriber phones on Earth that are out of terrestrial coverage. This is especially tough because of the noise from millions of other phones communicating terrestrially in the same mobile operator spectrum at the same time in our spot beam. We have repeatedly demonstrated the intricate two-way signaling required for a phone to connect to our cell tower in space, involving multiple instances of uplink and downlink messages, including a device request for channel access, and then the corresponding authentication and location update procedures. To date, we've done this with hundreds of phones in the UK, the Bahamas, and the US. This has never been proven before with a satellite cell tower and Lynk has done it. As part of the testing, we have also proven our signaling link budget (the signal power analysis) to close the link with existing mobile phones, as well as proven our ability to not interfere with existing terrestrial mobile operations while operating in the same bands.”

For more technical information this blog post How Lynk Proved Direct Two-way Satellite-to-Mobile-Phone Connectivity explains what Lynk has accomplished with the hundreds of phone registration tests.

Lynk will provide complete connectivity everywhere, whether land or sea, for the existing over 5.2 billion mobile subs through their existing MNO.  Each year, more than 3 billion people, who own mobile phones, experience extended periods of disconnectivity. Another 1 billion people who can afford a mobile phone, don’t buy one because there is no connectivity -- there is Zero G (0G) -- where they live and work.

Miller continued “Lynk is solving a problem that nobody else in the world is solving. We call it “The 0G Problem”. Next time you hear somebody use the phrase “5G”, ask yourself “How does 5G solve the World’s 0G problem? The answer … it doesn’t.”

The mobile industry has nearly exhausted the ability to profitably expand coverage with ground-based cell towers world-wide, leaving geographic coverage effectively capped. Lynk’s cell-tower-in-space service will complement existing terrestrial coverage and solves the coverage problem. Lynk represents the largest growth opportunity in the mobile industry today — a bigger growth opportunity than 5G.

Connecting the unconnected, with only the existing mobile phone in their pocket, will jump-start economic growth in remote and rural communities. Economic research proves that mobile wireless connectivity accelerates economic growth in poor rural areas by bringing 21st Century connectivity to people where they live.

Another benefit is instantaneous backup emergency communications everywhere on Earth. Currently, cellular systems are rendered inoperable when they are needed the most such as natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires as well as the aftermath of security-related incidents. Lynk believes that “Nobody should die because the phone in their pocket is not connected.”