EchoStar snares seven IoT providers for its pan-Euro satellite network

Satellite services firm EchoStar has signed up a raft of new customers for its recently-launched IoT network.

Seven to be precise, and they range from specialists targeting specific verticals to companies offering a broader range of solutions that cover multiple market sectors.

For example, France-based APIK offers location tracking for people and equipment operating in isolated environments, which it pitches at local authorities, rescue services, and ski resorts. Meanwhile, the UK’s Dales Land Net and Germany’s Dryad specialise in soil monitoring and early forest fire detection respectively.

The more generalist customers include Cyric, a company in Cyprus that sells customisable IoT solutions; France’s Symes, which offers design and manufacturing services for IoT devices; and Rome-based sensor maker ProEsys, which helps customers in the energy, utilities and public transport sectors monitor their infrastructure.

The final customer in this round-up is Galaxy1, an international provider of mobile satcom integration services.

All of them are tapping up EchoStar Mobile’s pan-European IoT network. It is worth noting that none of them are necessarily household names, but the breadth of not only the type of customer but their geographic spread is encouraging since it implies that EchoStar’s network holds broad appeal in multiple markets.

“We thank these innovative customers for choosing the EchoStar Mobile IoT network to meet their requirements for real-time, bi-directional sensor connectivity across agritech, utility, consumer recreational tracking and environmental markets,” said a statement on Monday from Telemaco Melia, vice president and general manager of EchoStar Mobile. “These deployments validate our customer value proposition by integrating seamlessly into the existing IoT ecosystem, achieving ubiquitous service continuity for our customers without requiring expensive terrestrial infrastructure.”

Following an early adopter programme last May, EchoStar’s network entered commercial service last November. Service is delivered via its EchoStar XXI geostationary satellite, which covers mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the UK. It provides two-way communication, seamless international roaming, and is compatible with the LoRa non-cellular IoT standard. Customers can connect their IoT devices to the network using EchoStar’s dual-mode satellite/terrestrial module.

That’s not to say that EchoStar is putting all its eggs in the non-cellular basket.

In February, it kicked off the construction of a new low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation in partnership with satellite maker Astro Digital. The satellites will have on-board storage and processing power, and will offer bi-directional comms to both LoRa and 5G non-terrestrial networking (NTN) devices.

It plans to offer global coverage from a constellation of 28 satellites in total. Services are due to begin rolling out next year.

With LEO operators like Starlink and OneWeb hogging the satellite headlines lately, EchoStar has been flying under – or should that be over – the radar somewhat. If it can pull off the deployment of a LoRA and 5G-compatible LEO network alongside its commercially available GEO network, then it will have all the assets it needs to become a formidable force in the satellite IoT market.

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