5G The Extra Terrestrial to phone roam
Satellite to the smartphone is going to be the biggest growth market in 2023, according to sources close to all the major operators. Starlink has created a surge in interest for satellite borne 5G services, according to a global systems integrator which says it has seen a deluge of requests for proposals. The proposers are equipment vendors and service providers all looking to get involved in what seems to be their next priority, 5G from space.
The firm that noticed this trend, Ukrainian software engineering service provider Intellias, became a byword for business continuity and endurance after its networks, company and people adapted to the Russian invasion, a conflict that first sparked in 2014. In the years since, demand for the company’s rare expertise and experience of working under duress has won it contracts across the globe. As a result it has a unique perspective on the immediate priories of the world’s mobile operators. These often contrast with statements that chief technology officers at MNOs might offer to analysts.
Accessible wideband satellite Internet is a top priority for mobile operators, according to Roman Makarchuk, Telco Delivery Director at Intellias. “The state of the network in Ukraine dramatically [catalysed] Starlink’s rapid growth. For the first time in history, end-customer wideband satellite Internet is that easy to access. And that’s basically one of the directions of 5G – the 5G satellite roaming, which can kick off such a synergy,” said Makarchuk.
Intellias has seen a spike in queries and request for proposals (RFPs) from satellite hardware vendors seeking integrated software as Starlink has blazed a trail success for extra-terrestrial broadcasting of 5G working., according to Makarchuk. If Intellias’ growth in business reflects global demand, then extra-terrestrial 5G (5G ET) could be a massive growth market as the world’s mobile network operators reach into virgin territory and provide business continuity for others.
The software needed must mobilise [automate] the initial set up of antenna and hardware, create web platforms for the tracking and maintenance of installed hardware and provide over-the-air (OTA) firmware upgrades. Apart from the operational side of the business, demand for gamification [simplification] of network management is rising, as is the needed for augmented reality features. These skills are already established in the software sector but the telecoms industry needs to harness them. But the code writers involved seem, “hesitant to steer themselves in [this]direction”, according to Makarchuk.
Apart from that, cloud migration as a business continuity process has perfect justification now that the physical computing equipment of every business is at higher risk of outages and data loss.
Ukraine-based Intellias’ is by necessity an authority on business continuity, a survival skill it has practised and refined since its homeland was first invaded in 2014. In April 2022 spokeswoman Anastasia Hibaieva, told Mobile Europe that substantial resources were invested in adapting to working after fighting breaks out. Planning and preparing for the worst concentrated minds and made staff more efficient. As a result of this work ethic and productivity it expanded into 11 global locations with delivery centres in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, Croatia) and a presence in the US, Germany, UAE and Israel with further expansions planed in Europe, LATAM and APAC. Between 2021 and 2022 it grew 70% and and numbers2500 employees. Ukraine is a technology hotbed; Lviv Polytechnic National University led a wave of technical schools in and there are technical universities from Kharkiv to Kyiv.