{"id":41451,"date":"2026-06-16T13:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/41451\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:16:09","slug":"direct-to-device-satellite-oq-telefonicas-europe-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/41451\/","title":{"rendered":"Direct-to-device satellite: OQ, Telef\u00f3nica’s Europe first"},"content":{"rendered":"

European satellite operator OQ Technology and Telef\u00f3nica Germany are\u00a0preparing<\/a>\u00a0to test direct-to-device satellite connectivity on ordinary smartphones, in what the partners bill as the first two-way demonstration of its kind by a European satellite company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trial, set for the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, will carry messaging and voice services from low Earth orbit to standard, unmodified handsets such as iPhones and Android phones, using Telef\u00f3nica\u2019s own licensed mobile spectrum.<\/p>\n

Direct-to-device, or D2D, lets a normal phone link to a passing satellite when no cell tower is in range, with no special hardware or bolt-on antenna. The draw is coverage that reaches the gaps terrestrial networks leave behind, from rural blackspots to disaster zones where the ground infrastructure is down or too costly to build.<\/p>\n

What sets this direct-to-device satellite test apart<\/p>\n

The detail that makes the trial notable is the spectrum.\u00a0Rather than\u00a0lean\u00a0on OQ\u2019s\u00a0own\u00a0dedicated satellite frequencies, the demonstration runs on Telef\u00f3nica\u2019s licensed mobile spectrum, so the satellite behaves\u00a0like\u00a0an extension of the operator\u2019s network rather than a separate service\u00a0sitting\u00a0alongside it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OQ\u2019s in-house payload is built to 3GPP mobile standards and works across several bands, including the S-band and the IMT frequencies that terrestrial operators already use. Its satellites orbit at roughly 500 to 600 kilometres, low enough to keep the lag manageable for texts and basic voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope must develop its own sovereign and interoperable space-based mobile infrastructure,\u201d said Omar Qaise, OQ Technology\u2019s founder and chief executive. He cast the tie-up as proof that European operators and satellite firms can build connectivity on open standards and existing phones, while leaving terrestrial operators in control of their own spectrum.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfirst\u201d label deserves a footnote. Vodafone has already run D2D test calls in Europe using AST SpaceMobile\u2019s satellites, and SpaceX\u2019s Starlink has connected ordinary phones in several markets through partner operators\u2019 airwaves. What OQ is claiming is narrower and pointedly European: the first two-way direct-to-device satellite demonstration carried out by a European operator using a European-built payload.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That distinction is the point. Brussels has spent the past year pushing for home-grown digital infrastructure, and a satellite layer owned and run in Europe slots neatly into that agenda.<\/p>\n

Telef\u00f3nica\u2019s J\u00f6rg Kablitz, its chief partner and wholesale officer, called the work \u201can important step for Germany\u2019s digital infrastructure,\u201d positioning the service as a supplement to mobile networks in places where putting up more towers would be impractical or impossible.<\/p>\n

The trial is slated for the coming year, with the satellite earmarked for it due to launch in the first half of 2027, according to\u00a0SpaceNews. The companies say they will measure real-world data speeds and check that the satellite and ground networks can share spectrum without interfering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it clears those hurdles, the harder question is commercial: when a service like this reaches paying customers, and at what price.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Telefonica<\/a>)<\/p>\n

See also: Amazon Leo\u2019s Globalstar deal changes the satellite race<\/a><\/p>\n

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Telecoms Tech News is powered by TechForge Media<\/a>. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European satellite operator OQ Technology and Telef\u00f3nica Germany are\u00a0preparing\u00a0to test direct-to-device satellite connectivity on ordinary smartphones, in what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[19317,19318,11604,18222,19319,155],"class_list":["post-41451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-telefonica","tag-d2d","tag-direct-to-device-satellite","tag-non-terrestrial-networks","tag-oq-technology","tag-satellite-to-smartphone","tag-telefonica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}