Belgian connectivity enabler BICS is working with non-terrestrial network (NTN) operator Skylo to connect anything, anywhere in the world via seamless satellite connections across BICS’s IPX network.

The partnership will allow BICS to leverage Skylo for its network made up of geostationary satellites covering 35.5 million square kilometres of land and sea, for direct NB-IoT-to-satellite connectivity for enterprises.

Skylo will also use BICS’s IPX to reach a telco audience, delivering IoT NTN connectivity to enterprise customers of partner mobile operators and MVNOs.

The number of connected IoT devices around the world is expected to nearly double by 2030, growing from 15.14bn this year to 29.42bn in the next seven years. Requiring only short bursts of power to connect, IoT devices such as trackers and sensors deliver data such as location, temperature or a simple message. Major industry verticals responsible for more than 100 million connected IoT devices are utilities, retail, wholesale, transportation, storage and government, but more important are the mission critical applications for which IoT is used, such as search and rescue operations.

By partnering, BICS and Skylo say their customers across the enterprise and telco markets can benefit from 3GPP-compliant plug-and-play IoT with connectivity and the ability to roam outside the device’s home country. BICS’s SIM for Things helps enterprises launch, manage and monetise international IoT applications, via one SIM and one platform, across its global IoT network. The two companies are already integrated, with traffic flowing in both directions successfully over Skylo’s live commercial network.

“As we move further into 2024, IoT innovation will continue to grow, and the demands on the technology to deliver seamless connectivity will push telcos to look upwards,” said Tarun Gupta, CPO of Skylo. “Satellite connections have proven themselves when it comes to reliability: less susceptible to failure from weather, natural disaster or war than other types of connectivity, and they provide ubiquitous coverage to 99% of the world’s surface. Together with BICS’s IPX network, we now offer a one-stop-shop for telcos and enterprises looking to roll out IoT to their customers.”

Luc Vidal-Madjar, head of IoT and M2M at BICS, added: “We are very proud to be working with Skylo, the only operator with persistent coverage over existing geostationary satellites, giving us a faster route to global coverage and needing fewer satellites which last longer in orbit than their low-orbit counterparts. Together, we are further bridging the digital divide, connecting the world, and creating opportunities for both network operators and enterprises.”

BICS (www.bics.com) is headquartered in Brussels, with a presence in Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Skylo Technologies (www.skylo.tech) is a global NTN service provider based in Mountain View, California, offering a service that allows smartphone and IoT cellular devices to connect directly over existing satellites. Devices connected over satellite are managed and served by Skylo’s commercial NTN vRAN, featuring a 3GPP standards-based cloud-native base station and core.