Constellations spoke with Lucas Hansen, Vice President and General Manager of Keysight Technologies, about 5G from space. The conversation covered the integration of terrestrial and satellite systems, the challenges satcom will face in adopting 5G, and when we can look forward to the introduction of 6G networks.
Investing $100 Billion in 5G Spectrum
5G is a massive step forward in integrating satellite and telco networks, according to Hansen, including massive connectivity capabilities and lower latency, all at the same time. “This is a major leap forward for the whole ecosystem to unlock new use cases and new applications,” he said, as well as new services and new technologies. “This is an enormous market with tremendous opportunity.”
As a telco professional, Hansen attended his first SATELLITE show this year. “I learned what a VSAT is, they learned what 3GPP is, and we can kind of compare notes, because fundamentally, what we’re trying to isn’t drastically different than what we’ve done in our own worlds in the past,” he said, and emphasized the need to figure out how to have telco and satellite systems talk to each other seamlessly, especially as the two industries have been siloed in the past. “It’s about bringing it together and talking the same language and unlocking the new potential use cases.”
For example, 2.6 billion people remain unconnected from the IoT, which is one of many markets that will benefit from bringing 5G to satellite. And telco operators are noticing this massive new market opportunity. “5G operators in North America have spent a hundred billion dollars on 5G spectrum alone,” Hansen said. “Using that spectrum will drive the operators to invest in these new use cases.”
Challenges for Satellite: Regulations, Energy Impact, Latency
“There are satellite networks that are planned to be launched to connect to any traditional smartphone,” Hansen said. But bringing 5G to satellite doesn’t come without significant technical challenges. Hansen described these challenges as belonging to three main groups: regulatory challenges, user experience, and customer experience.
Right out of the gate, many satcom operators are confronted with regulatory challenges, including spectrum allocation. Most important to address will be “how the spectrum is allocated—between the MSS spectrum and the terrestrial spectrum—and how these scenarios are going to work together and ensure that there’s minimized interference and clearly as the regulatory support needed,” he said.
On a more technical level, operators will also have to manage the user experience, for example the problem of maintaining latency and throughput. “Customers have a certain expectation for latency and throughput and performance of a 5G network,” Hansen said. Operators will need to be able to manage extenuating circumstances like unexpected drops in the data rate due to reduced capacity.
Similarly, there is the challenge of energy impact on satellites. For example, “when you’re charging off these solar panels, can the satellite handle the processing required to drive these sorts of data rates and connections?” Hansen asked. “Volumes of devices [are] generating hundreds and thousands of beams, hopping those beams around to maximize coverage.”
5.5G and 6G: What the Future Looks Like
Fully integrated 5G satellites will launch in the ’26 or ’27 timeline, according to Hansen, making 5G satellite connectivity a reality by the second half of the decade. With these satellites, “NR-NTN networks will be live and operational and come into our phones as a native 5G,” he said. Hansen also described the importance of stepping stones like 5.5G, or 5G Advanced, which will be the proving ground for troubleshooting the technical challenges described above.
“We’re on a tremendous path to mainstream adoption,” Hansen said. Looking forward, Hansen predicts that early 6G devices will become available by 2030. 6G, unlike 5G, “will have the non-terrestrial capabilities native at launch,” he said. “As we move into 6G, we’ve learned from those experiences [with 5G] and we can really take that next step.”
5G will be transformational for the satcom sector. “This [is] a major leap forward for the whole ecosystem to unlock new use cases and new applications,” Hansen said, and he looks forward to when satellite will be “a realized, native part of our everyday communication.”
To learn more about non-terrestrial 3GPP networks, AI/ML, and the ROI on 5G investments, you can listen to the full podcast episode here.
Explore More:
Satellite-Mobile Convergence is Driving Disruption and Opportunities
A Field Guide to 5G Standards in Satcom/Telecom Integration
Podcast: Nanosatellites, IoT over Satellite and 5G IoT Solving Industry Problems
Analysys Mason: Mobile Operators Should Deploy Open RAN Small Cells From Neutral Hosts To Densify 5G Neworks
