LEO-sat operators; Don´t look up (only)

The lack of LEO-satellite standardisation

Different from the movie “Don´t look up”, the threat for the new LEO-satellite constellations does not come from above, like the meteor in the movie that is about to destroy earth. Instead of that we should look down to see what happens on earth to see the real threat for the success of the new LEO-sat services.

The reason for this is the rather limited scope of the 3GPP release 17 which should have set the standards for 5G NTN/TN multi-connectivity. However, as it turned out this release is limited to only transparent satellite access nodes. This excludes any regenerative capabilities to compensate in the NTN 5G Core Network and RAN for satellite related issues like long propagation delays, large doppler effects, rain fading, etc. As a result of this release 17 will at best facilitate interworking between 5G NTNs and TNs leaving full NTN/TN multi-connectivity for release 18 which is only scheduled for March ´24.

Because the new LEO-sat constellations will be launched and become commercially available long before that, each LEO-sat providers will develop and implement its own separate, proprietary and dedicated Core Network and RAN solutions best suited to make their services connect seamlessly with 5G User Equipment.

So, where global standardisation in the cellular industry has clearly proven its value in the worldwide propagation and usage of cellular services it appears that with the new generation of LEO-sat constellations we at best will get half-way.

The consequences for reseller organisations

As a result of this, reseller organisations that want to provide the complete range of seamless 5G NTN and TN multi-connectivity solutions to their clients will have to connect to dedicate platform solutions of each LEO-sat operator. Because on top of this each LEO-sat operator is using a different service deployment and integration model this will be very inefficient and costly.

The Planet Earth Connect NaaS-platform

To solve this problem Planet Earth Connect is developing in close co-operation with all relevant stakeholders a multi-tenant and LEO-sat agnostic Network as a Service (NaaS)-platform. This will provide resellers the possibility to get access to, and source all these LEO-sat services through just one platform and from one organisation.

This platform will give access to full Virtual Satellite Enabler (VSE) capabilities containing all the Core Network, BSS, and OSS elements necessary for the development and management of an own range of highly tailored services.

As such resellers can become a Virtual LEO Satellite Operator (VSO) with full control over their own range of highly tailored LEO-sat services completely integrated with their terrestrial cellular portfolio of services.

More information about this platform

Has this sparked your interest, do you want to know more about this platform and how this can help your organisation to get most out of these new LEO satellite services? Then hesitate no longer and contact us on the below mentioned email address or telephone number.

e.ottolini@planetearthconnect.com

+44 741 747 6709