On November 26, 2024, Huawei held a Mate70 launch conference and brought another blockbuster news: the MateX6 mobile phone will be connected to the low-orbit satellite Internet, becoming the world's first mass mobile phone to support three-network satellite communications.
Yu Chengdong revealed at the press conference that Huawei is currently conducting cooperative testing with China Star Network, and it is expected to start low-orbit satellite Internet public testing in the second half of 2025.
The application of Huawei's three-network satellite communication technology in terminal equipment is expected to inspire other mobile phone manufacturers to follow up widely, thereby bringing new market growth opportunities to the entire industry chain.
Satellite Internet of Things ushers in a period of rapid growth
It is understood that the Huawei Mate X6 Collector's Edition supports three-network satellite communications, including Beidou satellite messages, Tiantong satellite communications and low-orbit satellite communications.
Beidou satellite news: Beidou satellite is a global satellite navigation system independently developed by China. Its short message communication function allows users to send emergency information without ground network coverage. At the results release conference on July 30, 2022, BeiDou-3's short message communication service announced that it has entered a new stage of development for mass application. BeiDou satellite communication services have been officially opened to the public and can be accessed on devices such as smartphones.
The latest news shows that my country will build a next-generation BeiDou system with more advanced technology, more powerful functions and better services. It plans to start launching networking satellites around 2029 and complete system construction in 2035.
Tiantong Satellite Communication: From 2016 to 2021, Tiantong-1 achieved in-orbit networking of three satellites, which marks that China's independent and controllable satellite mobile communication system has achieved coverage in the Asia-Pacific region and its service capabilities have been upgraded again.
In January 2020, China Telecom's Tiantong satellite business was officially commercialized. Relying on my country's first independently built satellite mobile communication system, users can use Tiantong satellite phones or terminals in the satellite service area for voice, SMS, data communication and location services.
Low-orbit satellite communication: Compared with medium- and high-orbit satellites such as Beidou and Tiantong, low-orbit satellites have unique advantages because they are closer to the earth's surface. For example, the signal propagation delay is low, and the round-trip delay is generally less than 100ms, which is significantly lower than the approximately 600ms of high-orbit satellite communication. At the same time, due to the small signal attenuation, it can provide relatively stable communication quality.
China currently deploys multiple low-orbit satellite constellation systems such as Qianfan Constellation, GW Constellation, and Honghu-3 Constellation. After Huawei Mate X6 commercializes low-orbit satellite communication technology, it is bound to promote the accelerated development of China's low-orbit satellite technology and help China build a new generation of air-ground network advantages. In this regard, China's satellite industry, rocket industry, communications industry, consumer electronics and other sub-industries will also usher in key development opportunities.
As a branch of satellite Internet, satellite Internet of Things mainly focuses on low-power, low-cost, and low-rate data collection services. Compared with satellite Internet, satellite Internet of Things has carried out special designs for terminal cost, power consumption and network connection service capabilities in system design. Due to the differences in the use of frequency bands, terminal forms and application scenarios of satellite Internet of Things, it has gradually formed an independent development direction.
It is understood that more than 80% of land areas and more than 95% of ocean areas are not covered by ground networks. Although China has the largest number of communication base stations in the world, about 60% of the country's land area (including the ocean) still has no ground network signals. Satellite IoT has broad application prospects in smart logistics, smart ocean, asset monitoring, emergency rescue, environmental monitoring and other aspects in these areas.
NSR research data shows that the number of satellite IoT terminals in the world is about 5 million devices, of which the scale of satellite IoT terminal devices in China is about 500,000. With the addition of the new generation of satellite IoT based on 5G NTN, the annual average growth rate of the number of satellite IoT terminals will increase from 21% to 76% in the future. By 2032, the number of global satellite IoT terminals will reach 60 million devices, most of which are satellite IoT terminal devices based on 5G NTN.
Mobile phones directly connected to satellites are gradually becoming standard for new phones
In 2022, Huawei released the Mate50 series of mobile phones, which is the world's first mass smartphone to support Beidou satellite messages. In 2023, China Telecom will take the lead in launching a mass consumer 5G mobile phone direct connection to the Tiantong satellite service based on the high-orbit Tiantong satellite, becoming the world's first telecommunications company to achieve the integration of ground cellular network services and satellite network services.
Under the leadership of Huawei, satellite communications are gradually sinking from flagship models to mid-range mobile phones, and gradually becoming a standard feature of new mobile phones. Domestic mobile phone brands such as Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, and OPPO have successively launched mobile phones that support satellite communications.
The industrial development of mobile phone direct connection to satellite technology will not only promote the continuous advancement of the technology itself, but also bring about a significant reduction in costs. With the continuous improvement of the industrial chain and large-scale production, the cost of hardware equipment required for mobile phones to connect directly to satellites will gradually decrease.
This means that in the future, not only mobile phones will be able to achieve direct connection with satellites, but also a variety of terminal devices such as cars, drones, smart wearable devices, and remote monitoring equipment will also be connected to satellite networks.
In terms of automobiles, the BYD Yangwang U8 Off-Road Player Edition, the world's first car equipped with Tiantong satellite communication function, was unveiled in June this year, providing a more complete means of communication for in-vehicle communications; Changan Automobile demonstrated its first prototype car equipped with "in-vehicle satellite communication" technology, which can provide vehicles with uninterrupted communication services in areas without network coverage, providing drivers and passengers with safer and more reliable communication guarantees.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
