GSMA：151家运营商布局卫星服务，NTN互操作成下一阶段关键

Barbara Pareglio, Senior Technical Director at the GSMA, explains how the mobile and satellite industries are working together to advance non-terrestrial networks, and looks ahead to the GSMA’s focus at M360 ASEAN and World Space Business Week Earlier this year, I wrote about how the mobile and satellite industries are working towards a future in which users can move seamlessly between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Since then, the market has continued to move quickly, with satellite services expanding, new operator partnerships being announced and direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity moving closer to commercial scale. According to GSMA Intelligence, 151 operators now have satellite services that are live, in testing or planned, representing an addressable footprint of around six billion mobile connections worldwide. The growing visibility of services such as Starlink reflects increasing demand for connectivity beyond the reach of terrestrial networks. At the same time, the number of satellite providers and mobile operators entering the market is increasing, making interoperability more important than ever. From bespoke services to global interoperability Today’s satellite ecosystem includes a range of technical and commercial approaches. Some services are built around 3GPP standards and designed to integrate closely with mobile networks, while others are proprietary or only partially standardised. This diversity is helping to drive innovation, but it also highlights the importance of interoperability as the market scales. Mobile users already benefit from roaming agreements and common standards that allow their devices to connect across networks around the world. Ultimately, satellite connectivity should evolve in a similar way, enabling users to move between terrestrial and satellite networks without needing specialist devices, separate subscriptions or entirely different user experiences. The next phase of NTN will therefore depend on creating frameworks that allow networks, devices, and services to work together at scale. This is particularly important as services such as Starlink demonstrate the different approaches being taken across the satellite market, alongside deployments based more closely on 3GPP standards. Turning standards into services This is where the GSMA’s NTN Community and Working Groups continue to play an important role. Since the start of the year, work has progressed across several groups to support terrestrial and …