• Elveo Mobile will offer D2D services to telecom operators worldwide
• The joint venture is backed by SES, which announced a strategic partnership
• Elveo has agreements with more than 50 MNOs and distributors worldwide

Satellite operators Lynk and Omnispace have completed their merger and rebranded the new entity, which will offer global direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services, as Elveo Mobile. Elveo plans to partner with mobile network operators (MNOs) worldwide to “close the coverage gap” by combining spectrum rights across multiple bands with its multi-band satellite technology and 20 years of communications experience.

It has commercial agreements in place with more than 50 MNOs and distribution partners operating across more than 60 countries, including Spark in New Zealand, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Vodafone Ghana. It has eight low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites in the air and the combined company will leverage Omnispace’s 60MHz of globally coordinated S-band spectrum as part of its D2D push.

The combined company is promising a service that will work with 8 billion devices worldwide and will be optimised for 5G. It will also look for partners beyond MNOs, offering services for the automotive, internet of things and government sectors.

It will face stiff competition, however, as the likes of Starlink and AST Spacemobile have already agreed major D2D deals with telcos, while Amazon Leo and other satellite providers are looking to get in on the act.

“We’re delivering a fundamental shift in communications by connecting ‘elevated intelligence’ directly from our network in space to mobile devices around the world,” said Ramu Potarazu, chief executive officer of Elveo, who was previously CEO of Lynk.

The merger, which closed on Friday, brings together Washington-based Omnispace and Luxembourg-based Lynk to form a combined company that will be headquartered in the Washington DC metro area. It is being backed by investors including SES – which had already invested in both companies prior to the merger – Fortress, Stepstone, Columbia Capital, Telcom Ventures and Blazar Ventures.

For SES, the merger, which was first announced in October last year, will also open an opportunity to expand its satellite communications offering. As news broke that the merger was finalised, SES announced a new strategic partnership with Elveo Mobile that will see the two companies work together on global spectrum initiatives with the aim of helping Elveo deliver global D2D solutions. SES will also support the merged company’s go-to-market strategy, engineering plans, operations and regulatory needs. For SES, the collaboration will enhance its current mobile, enterprise and government offerings by giving it access to Elveo’s LEO network, alongside its own geostationary-earth orbit (GEO) and medium-earth orbit (MEO) offering.

“Elveo is an agile, forward-thinking innovator, and exactly the type of company we sought as our strategic partner for direct-to-device services,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. “SES customers will now have access to premier D2D services, further expanding our multi-orbit connectivity solutions.”

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV