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No mobile signal? How UAE satellites could keep ordinary phones connected
Space42 and US-based Skylo Technologies have completed a two-way SMS and emergency SOS test between a standard Android smartphone and Thuraya-4 satellite
- PUBLISHED: Sat 8 Aug 2026, 1:57 PM UPDATED: Sun 9 Aug 2026, 1:00 PM
A phone with no mobile bars is usually a camera, a clock and little else, especially when you're in the middle of the desert. Space42 wants the same device to send a message, share a location or call for help by connecting directly to a satellite overhead.
The Abu Dhabi company and US-based Skylo Technologies have completed a two-way SMS and emergency SOS test between a standard Android smartphone and Space42’s Thuraya-4 satellite.
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The phone required no separate antenna or specialist satellite terminal. Messages also passed through the mobile operator’s existing SIM and identity systems without changes to its core network, according to the companies. The test did not demonstrate unrestricted calls, internet browsing or video streaming. It showed that a compatible ordinary phone could exchange small amounts of information via a satellite when terrestrial coverage was lost.
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“Before, if you launched a satellite and you had 100,000 subscribers, you were extremely happy,” Ali Al Hashmi, CEO of Space Services at Space42, told Khaleej Times.
“But direct-to-device makes the situation immediately different. You literally have access to everybody who owns a phone. If you do not own any satellite terminal today, you are still a potential customer. All of us are potential customers.”
Satellite communications have traditionally required dedicated phones or external terminals fitted with larger antennas. Direct-to-device, known as D2D, is intended to remove that barrier by allowing compatible smartphones to communicate through satellites using mobile-network standards.
The ultimate aim is for a phone to remain on a terrestrial network while a tower is available, then move to a satellite connection when coverage disappears.
Thuraya-4 sits in geostationary orbit about 36,000km above Earth. From that position, a single satellite can cover an enormous area, but the distance limits how much data can be sent efficiently to a small handset. That is why messaging, emergency alerts and location sharing are arriving before heavier services such as full internet access or video.
The larger ambition sits with Equatys, a planned venture between Space42 and Viasat. It is being designed as shared infrastructure that mobile operators could use instead of building separate satellite networks.
Its proposed architecture could eventually include up to 2,800 satellites. However, Al Hashmi argues that the number placed in orbit is only one part of the equation. The more important advantage, he said, may be spectrum: the limited radio-frequency bands through which phones and satellites communicate. Explaining it in an analogy, he said:
“Think about spectrum as the highway for your car. If you have the perfect car, but you do not have a highway, you can still go from A to B, but there will be a lot of trouble. It will not be an easy journey. Maybe you need a strong four-wheel drive with a lot of power consumption.”
Al Hashmi believes access to that spectrum could allow the network to deliver connectivity with fewer technical complications and at a lower cost to users. Space42 and Viasat say Equatys could operate across more than 100MHz of globally allocated and coordinated mobile satellite spectrum.
“Everybody is thinking about huge cars and powerful cars to go from A to B,” he said. “I can deliver the same service by building a bus because I own the spectrum. I can make it more efficient, easier and simpler, consume less power, and charge you a bus rate instead of charging you to buy a supercar for the same journey.”
That cost question may decide whether satellite connectivity remains an emergency feature used only in remote locations or becomes part of an ordinary mobile subscription.
Space42 has signed exploratory agreements with e& UAE and Indonesia’s Telkomsat covering technical integration, licensing and possible field trials.
Phones will still need compatible hardware and software. Operators must agree commercial terms, regulators must approve spectrum use, and Equatys must prove that it can deliver reliable service at a price ordinary users will accept.
For Al Hashmi, success would mean the user barely notices the infrastructure involved.
“You just want to make a phone call regardless of whether it is satellite or non-satellite,” he said. “You do not want to worry about whether you are outside coverage, and when you make that call, you do not want it to kill your bank account at the end of the day.
“It has to be seamless in terms of connectivity and seamless in terms of the end-user experience.”
The UAE test proved that a message can make the journey. The harder task is making that connection widely available, automatic and affordable enough that the user no longer cares whether the signal came from a tower or a satellite.
Ahmed Waqqas Alawlaqi is the youngest Special Correspondent, reporting from Abu Dhabi on youth, AI and innovation, and human-interest stories. His work brings exclusive perspectives from the Capital, highlighting voices that shape the UAE's future.