Eutelsat has announced it has sucessfully completed the world's first trial of a 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) connection over their OneWeb network.
OneWeb, which was merged with Eutelsat in 2023, and operates commercially as Eutelsat OneWeb, is a global constellation of 654 small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
The conducted test was over a live commercial network and according to Eutelsat will "pave the way for deployment of the 5G NTN standard, which will result in future satellite and terrestrial interoperability within a large ecosystem, lowering the cost of access and enabling the use of satellite broadband for 5G devices around the world“.
The trial used Eutelsat OneWeb satellites, with the MediaTek NR NTN test chipset, and NR NTN test gNB provided by ITRI, implementing the 3GPP Release 17 specifications. Sharp, Rhode & Schwarz provided the antenna array and test equipment and the LEO satellites, built by Airbus, carry transponders, with Ku-band service link, Ka-band feeder link, and adopt the “Earth-moving beams” concept. During the trial, the 5G user terminal connected to the 5G core via the satellite link and exchanged traffic.
The integration of 5G standards and acceptance by the mobile industry, will naturally see terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (TN-NTN) complement each other and create a "network of networks". This will help bridge the digital divide, strengthen resilience, and unlock new economic opportunities for connectivity providers, consumers and local economies. LEO satellites bring down the cost of connectivity in hard-to-reach areas or in areas where it's not practical or possible for towercos to build towers and meet MNO coverage needs. Satellites provide a complementary coverage solution, and help towards increasing universal connectivity. Some towercos are are also exploring ways to package LEO satellite coverage with existing services to enhance MNO offerings.
Eutelsat is headquartered in Paris while OneWeb has a centre of operations in London and is partly supported by the UK government with an 11% stake.
European telecom and space companies are increasing efforts to improve connectivity across the continent. Eutelsat is one of the satellite operators selected by the European Union (EU) for the IRIS² contellation programme which envisages multi-orbital constellation of 290 satellites to provide secure connectivity acros the member states by 2030.
