While the satellite industry is by no means old, it has been around long enough to have transitioned through a few hardware shifts, driven by innovation and developing consumer demand.

Legacy geostationary satellites supporting L-band communications are being eclipsed by a fascination with direct-to-device (D2D) low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations. But though these craft offer more throughput, the pricetag for a whole fleet of revolving satellites may not stack up with current demand.

Direct-to-device describes a technology in which satellite service skips its typical relationship with a ground station gateway or a mobile satellite terminal to connect directly to its destination, typically a smartphone, or similar piece of communication equipment, though the trend extends to connected cars, drones, and other advanced technologies that may end up anchoring its relevance in future years.

Starlink’s D2D fleet alone has leapt from more than 100 specialized satellites in 2024 to 650+ as of October, seized upon a trend they see as decisive, but also mirroring much of the activity on the trend they’ve been seeing from players like AST Mobile and Skylo. In August, Echostar ordered a D2D constellation from MDA Space for $1.3 billion. Starlink’s up-and-coming peer in Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, has been developing its own D2D technologies since at least 2024.

“While there are lots of assets customers are interested in tracking, the economics simply haven’t worked when the satellite terminal costs several thousand dollars,” Andy Kessler, vice president of enterprise and land mobile at Viasat told DCD earlier this year. “If the satellite terminal now costs tens of dollars, that’s a different story.”

Kessler spoke of Viasat’s substantial legacy L-Band commercial business, which consists of a variety of applications in global satellite phone coverage and IoT applications, as well as emerging opportunities in narrowband non-terrestrial networks. With the D2D trend subtracting the role of conventional satellite terminals, this sector may prove very relevant.

The L-Band describes the range of radio frequencies spanning 1-2 gigahertz, at the top end of the ultra-high frequency band, widely adopted for supplementary downlink via satellite for terrestrial mobile and fixed communications networks. Prominent operators in the space include Inmarsat, merged with Viasat in 2023, Iridium Communications, Ligado Networks, and Thuraya.

That demand reinforces the utility of L-Band satellites across the industry that have passed their prime, but may yet offer an outsized return serving low-bandwidth solutions, given their operational age.

“Satellites later in their lifespan can also still provide significant capabilities,” explains Kessler’s colleague Kevin Cohen, vice president of direct-to-device at Viasat. “Historically, we’ve been maximizing the use of our assets in space to reliably extend their design lifetime.”

The evolving role of L-Band

Recent regulatory developments around spectrum have sparked debates and differences between players. In November, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India received conflicting messages from telcos and satellite providers seeking to inform a consultation on the use of L- and S-Band, and its necessity for the mobile-satellite service industry, with SIA-India, a group representing satellite companies, stating the frequencies were not up for auction anywhere in the world, asserting that considering doing so would affect the growth of the nation’s fledgling satellite sector.

The drama occured in reaction to a request made by Reliance Jio Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, who appealed that L and S-Bands should be considered for mobile spectrum planning and auctions, opening up 1200Mhz of spectrum for licensed movile services, questioning a prior piece of legislation, The Telecommunications Act 2023, which concluded these bands should be given through administrative allocation, not bidding wars.

The Global Satellite Mobile Association (GSMA), backed the regulator’s intention to award spectrum to operators in contiguous blocks, citing India’s population density, ballooning data requirements, and potential for 6G expansion.

The conversation around spectrum sales may have been influenced by Echostar’s $17 billion sale of satellite spectrum to SpaceX in early September. The spectrum sold covers what is referred to as the H block, comprising frequencies between 1,915-1,920MHz, used widely for 4G and 5G mobile voice and data transmission.

"We're so pleased to be doing this transaction with EchoStar as it will advance our mission to end mobile dead zones around the world," Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer, said in a statement at the time.

Shotwell recommitted to SpaceX’s plans to produce direct-to-cell satellites, enabling coverage for millions of customers worldwide. The question of who this was a good deal for is yet to be seen.

Rumors continue to circulate on a collaboration between Apple and Starlink, with Musk having made several attempts to lock the iPhone developer in as an anchor customer for the Starlink network. In late 2024, Apple announced plans to commit $1.5 billion to Globalstar to use its L-Band network to equip iPhones for emergency communications. Globalstar has since been reportedly exploring a sale to SpaceX, according to sources from Bloomberg.

The apparent enthusiasm to occupy this spectrum and the technologies that make use of it is substantiated in the ambition of its applications.

Rise of the Connected Cow

Viasat’s Kessler describes IoT for cattle herds as an outstanding example of L-Band’s utility.

“In livestock tracking, the entirety of data transmitted over the course of a month might very well be less than a kilobyte. That becomes a really attractive way for a ranch to keep track of its assets in a location either exclusively or primarily outside cellular coverage.”

The question of which farmers have the liquidity to invest in satellite tracking for cows has invited scepticism in the past, though as the value of beef and other livestock produce tick upwards, and tracking technologies simplify, such products make more financial sense. Livestock farmers in Central Asia, for example, have long made pasture markets their way of life, though they have long suffered from poor regional connectivity.

“There’s a growing reliance on satellite-enabled IoT devices for water management, crop and soil analysis and remote equipment inspections,” Cohen adds. “Our recent field research shows that satellite connectivity now powers half of farmers’ agricultural IoT projects.”

Cohen echoes the argument about falling cost barriers through the removal of the middleman in expensive satellite terminals, predicting it could invite a greater uptake of IoT sooner than we think.

Though for some, the cost pressures that have long defined the behaviours of farmers and other prospective customers can’t be discounted.

“Traditional GEO satellite infrastructure and communication protocols that deliver always-on real-time connectivity are not well-suited to IoT, as the infrastructure cost makes meeting the cost sensitivity of many IoT use cases, such as agri-tech, environmental sensing, water management, and remote infrastructure monitoring impossible,” says Nicola Russo, vice president of commercial operations at Myriota.

Myriota, which is based in Adelaide, South Australia, launched a narrowband-IoT satellite with Viasat in March this year to support its Myriota HyperPulse service, which relies on the L-Band network Viasat provides.

Simplifying Emergency Communication

In October this year, Iridium came together with Qualcomm on integrating data services into the Snapdragon Mission Tactical Radio with the intention of bringing them to US government customers and their partners. Built on secure L-Band Iridium satellites, the collaboration supports handheld and mounted radios, capable of reliable performance in areas of congested, compromised, or absent terrestrial networks. Their work in the field maintains L-Band’s reputation for delivering mission-critical communications.

Iridium did not immediately respond to DCD’s request for comment.

“Millions of consumer mobile devices have already accessed satellite SOS connectivity in North America in the last two years,” Cohen explains. “As industries become more and more reliant on real-time data from remote assets, we anticipate demand to rise, particularly given what was once perceived as a prohibitive, costly investment could be more cost-efficient. First responders operating in a disaster zone where cell towers are down can establish a reliable means of sending critical information through D2D services. The same goes [for the military] in areas where harsh environmental conditions or remote locations mean terrestrial networks are unavailable or compromised.”

Viasat acknowledged it was also exploring the use of D2D technologies for governments and defense applications, with push-to-talk (PTT) applications being an example of where D2D 5G technologies and solutions over satellite could enable greater scale and cost-efficiency for large-scale operations and missions.

“We see global demand here,” Myriota’s Russo agrees, “including [telemetry use-cases for mission-critical customers in] autonomous monitoring of unattended infrastructure, asset tracking, and environmental monitoring.”

Cell power in the fast-developing world

Also in October, Viasat ran a D2D technology demonstration in Mexico, enabled by 3GPP standards-based non-terrestrial RAN and CORE infrastructure from its partner Skylo, demonstrating native SMS messages on an Android smartphone moving through their I-4 F3 satellite – a first for the country.

“We see growing opportunities for consumer mobile D2D services in areas that are currently underserved by terrestrial connectivity,” Cohen told DCD. “Many regions around the world, including India, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and across North America, don't have reliable cell coverage everywhere, particularly in suburban and rural areas. In fact, almost every country has at least some part of its landmass in which cellular networks are patchy or unavailable. This challenge can be compounded in areas prone to extreme weather events, which can damage or interrupt cellular networks. This leaves populations unconnected, impacting everything from emergency services to basic communication.”

Cohen describes India, Asia, and Africa in particular as continents with some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with industries growing at a pace that generates heated demand for connected consumer and IoT devices.

“Satellite messaging offers a scalable and cost-effective solution to meet this demand, fostering digital inclusion without requiring the large upfront investment in terrestrial infrastructure that may be required,” he says.

Viasat is a founding member of the Mobile Satellite Services Association, a nonprofit association seeking to further the progress of direct-to-device and IoT technologies, comprised of communications companies in North American, European, and MENA regions

These fast-developing nations are sites of strong demand for Myriota, too, Russo says.

“Due to the lack of reliable NB-IoT and LTE coverage available, and the affordability of our offering when compared with traditional satellite alternatives, LATAM, Southeast Asia, and Africa are all regions of high growth and demand for Myriota, and we see this continuing over the next five-10 years,” he says.