Skylo’s NB-NTN Device Partners Showcase Diversity, Innovation, and Opportunity in Low-Bandwidth IoT

Skylo has certified 12 Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)-capable chipsets from 5 semiconductor manufacturers. Two of the chipsets are NTN-only, with modems that just support the L and S satellite bands. They are intended as supplemental additions for devices that contain a separate wide-area and/or Short-Range Wireless (SRW) modem, or for devices that only require NTN connectivity. Three more are LTE-M and/or Narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) Low-Power Wide Area (LPWA) IoT chips. A further six are 5G New Radio (NR) chips, two of which are automotive grade, with the remaining model being an optimized and affordable Long ,Term Evolution (LTE) modem for wearables. For so few certifications these 12 models cover the widest possible spread of applications, from wearables, to smartphones, to vehicles, to mobile (LTE-M), and stationary (NB-IoT) IoT devices; and even to non-cellular equipment. So far, 15 modules and 24 devices have been built using those chipsets.

Both NTN and Skylo have aspirations of proving and providing crucial functional utility across the board, even with “just” NB connectivity for now. High bandwidth, 5G-equivalent satellite connectivity for The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-compliant devices is slated to come with the commercialization of NR-NTN chipsets in 2027. Commitment to NB-NTN from a competitive selection of semiconductor manufacturers, including both cellular device specialists and generalists, shows belief in the opportunity, and the desire to achieve a first-mover advantage, to become embedded as a trusted NTN supplier early on. And this is an endeavor to ensure that competitors are not able to steal market share in the future, by virtue of a more mature competency in what might have begun as a niche technology. Skylo’s five certified chipset partners are MLINK, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Sony Altair.

The specific functional utility of NB-NTN differs by IoT device type, but NTN’s common, overarching purpose, regardless of use case, is to create resiliency through redundancy and coverage. High throughput devices, vehicles, and even wearables, for example, can rely on Skylo’s NB-NTN service to deliver fallback connectivity for emergency services; when beyond the range of a cellular network, or when normal service is disrupted, NB-NTN’s low bandwidth can guarantee the delivery of distress messages. For LTE-M and NB-IoT devices, NB-NTN can provide a reduced, essential service feature set. The theoretical NB-NTN peak data rate is 1 Kilobit per Second (Kbps) to 2 Kbps, but Skylo is honest about the fact that with protocol overheads and retransmission to ensure message delivery, to provide the security and mission-critical guarantees that IoT relies on, message package size is approximately 50 bytes.

NB-NTN devices are able to send two to three messages per minute over Skylo’s network. And while the data bursts are very small, necessity is the mother of invention, and highly innovative IoT use cases have been conceived for this precious radio resource. Specific examples have included sending location tracking data for far-ranging cattle, delivering crucial payment authentication, and providing affordable messaging services for small private fishing enterprises that can’t afford traditional satphone subscriptions. It is easy to imagine that as NB-NTN is the most basic service, that it is the least useful and is just a novelty, a proof of concept until NR-NTN is available. But NB-NTN may be the most useful as its acute throughput limitations speak to carefully planned and predictable communication requirements, making it easier to build in the cost of NTN to the sticker price of cheaper, high-volume IoT devices.

Sony Altair certified the NTN firmware-upgraded version of its ALT1250 LPWA chipset with Skylo in May 2024. Altair states that “85% of the earth surface lacks terrestrial connectivity,” and its Skylo-enabled chipset aims to fix that. Skylo doesn’t pretend to have global coverage; it currently claims availability in 36 countries. But this isn’t the end of Skylo’s plans. Coverage should increase, especially as business opportunities appear in new geographies, precisely as terrestrial Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) have leased capacity from new networks as and when they’ve needed to. The fact that neither Skylo nor Sony Altair has global coverage is not some kind of a gotcha for the viability of their offerings. Global coverage should not be a pre-requisite for the NTN market to get moving. What matters is that NTN coverage exists where things need to be connected, but couldn’t be previously, right now.

Skylo operates a virtual satellite constellation, with capacity presently leased from EchoStar, Ligado Networks, Terrestar Solutions, and Viasat, all of which operate satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). Claims exist that Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations are better for global coverage and adequate NTN capacity, as they stand to exist in greater numbers, orbiting the Earth more frequently. But LEO is still in testing for NTN, so it can’t be used yet, while GEO is working now, with Skylo just needing more business partnerships to have global coverage. The former cannot be considered “better” in practice, but if Skylo needs to focus on LEO partnerships in the future to secure the infrastructure needed to guarantee the service its customers demand, then it will. The greater threat may be the use of LEO for direct cellular-to-satellite communication without NTN, just as T-Mobile USA has established with Starlink, for example.

Skylo’s strategy has made it a common, early choice of partner for cellular carriers. Cellular carriers are and will continue to forge supplier relationships with multiple satellite operators, for the sake of optimal access to the resources they may ultimately require. The prioritization of that partnership process is driven by the ease of Application Programming Interface (API) interoperability between the respective cellular and satellite Connectivity Management Platforms (CMPs). And as Skylo is a newer, disruptive entrant, with cellular carriers as its preferred channel for selling satellite connectivity to enterprises, its CMP is natively set up to be the most compatible. To date, Skylo has publicly announced it is a supplier to 6 cellular MNOs: Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, BICS, KPN, TELUS; and to 11 MVNOs: Semtech, Blues, Cubic, emnify, Monogoto, Multibyte, Soracom, Transatel, Spectrum Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, and floLIVE.

Of the 24 certified Skylo devices, one of the most innovative is the aforementioned cattle tracker, the xTPro from U.S. manufacturer 701x. The xTPro is a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled ear tag that is physically attached to the animal, with a small upward-facing solar panel to recharge its battery, powering a Quectel BG770A-SN (LTE-M, NB-IoT, and NTN) module. Priced at US$175 per unit, the xTPro is explicitly sold on the basis of the Return on Investment (ROI), monitoring livestock health and location, to optimize breeding at an estimated value of up to US$2,000 per calf, and to avoid livestock loss at a potential value of up to US$10,000 per adult animal. The xTPro is an application-specific product, but has a core premise and the design would translate well into adjacent farming needs, potentially protecting sheep, pigs, or horses using the same hardware and with only minor modifications to the data collected.

Also of note is the Hestia NTN satellite IOT Dongle from Taiwanese Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Apal, an NTN-only device that uses the MediaTek MT6825 chipset. As a ruggedized outdoor device, it is applicable to any remote stationary or mobile assets that natively operate beyond the reach of cellular networks. The Hestia enables the fishing boat communications system mentioned above. And it can readily be adapted to adjacent needs in energy monitoring, agricultural and environmental monitoring, vessel tracking, remote area communications, and natural disaster monitoring and early warning systems. Necessity means that in the face of scarcity, a way can be found. Scarcity is not the real limitation, availability is, and a little can be made to go a long way by those with a vital need, as long as there is means at their disposal. And with Skylo, for connectivity, there is.