Telco giant PLDT and its wireless unit Smart, along with their tech collaborator AST SpaceMobile, have announced that they will conduct tests of the latter’s BlueWalker 3 satellite, which is being designed to communicate directly with mobile phones from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. Smart will be the first in the Philippines to test this technology.
This, after the said companies met with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to express their support for the government’s initiative to provide connectivity to all Filipinos, including those in remote areas.
DICT acting secretary Emmanuel Rey “Manny” Caintic said that “given our country’s archipelagic nature, deploying typical terrestrial broadband infrastructure across the Philippines has been a challenge, especially in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs).”
“Fortunately, newer technologies in satellites are capable of providing much-needed cellular connectivity with more flexibility in their deployment.” added Caintic.
Caintic noted that LEO satellites offer low latency, high throughput internet to geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. He also added that AST SpaceMobile’s technology “could be a game-changer,” as it is designed to directly connect to ordinary smartphones.
Smart inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US-based AST SpaceMobile in July 2021. AST SpaceMobile is making “the first space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones.”
Smart’s parent company PLDT and global satellite operator Telesat of Canada conducted the Philippines’ first on-orbit testing of high-speed broadband connectivity with Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite earlier this year, marking yet another milestone for PLDT as the country’s first local service provider to conduct live in-orbit testing over LEO satellite using an end-user terminal installed at the PLDT facility in Greenhills.
Source: Smart
PLDT-Smart, AST SpaceMobile to test space-based cellular broadband
Source: Magandang Gabi Viral
0 Comments