Orange to test D2D service next year as it waits for satellite coverage

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Orange was one of the first announced customers for Satellite Connect Europe, the joint venture between AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone, which seeks to meet European operators' demand for more control and sovereignty in mobile satellite communications. At the time, the operator was planning to start with a demonstration in Romania that was to take place this year.

This has now been postponed to early next year. Laurent Leboucher, executive VP for networks and group chief technology officer, told Light Reading in an interview on the sidelines of Network X that it would be more of a test rather than a demonstration, and that it can only take place once there are enough satellites in orbit.

"They should be ready by the end of the year, and that means that the test can start," he said. "That means also that we should have enough quality without too many interruptions, because if you don't have enough satellites, then you get interrupted from time to time."

AST SpaceMobile's launch timeline has run into delays this year, as Light Reading wrote previously. The operator admitted in July that its launch plans have been pushed from end 2026 to early 2027. It has since said it will offer limited coverage in several countries by the end of the year, but none of these are in the EU.

Much like with most D2D services in Europe, the idea is to expand the network and ensure connectivity in the few areas that aren't covered by the mobile network. Orange partnered with Satellite Connect Europe and also directly with AST for services in its markets outside of Europe.

When announcing the partnership, Orange said that a priority is to control customer data traffic through its core network. It stated at the time that a part of the exercise in the Romania test would be to study the integration into a core network managed by Orange.

Avoiding interference

Leboucher, meanwhile, also said that the test is intended to help better understand the quality, as well as the implications of using a part of Orange's spectrum for the service. He noted that it needed to examine how introducing satellite services would impact other operators and to establish how big of a distance will need to be kept from the border to avoid interference in neighboring countries.

Orange is not alone in asking these questions. GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer John Giusti raised a similar point during Network X, noting that safeguarding operators' spectrum from any harmful interference when mobile spectrum gets used for D2D services was a priority for the organization. The interference context for D2D is very different from the one for mobile, he argued, saying it has to establish "how do we protect the adjacent users within the country, and how do we also safeguard against cross-border [interference]."

While in theory there is also the option of using dedicated mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum, this is being reallocated in Europe. Once it becomes available, "that will give us very good opportunity to use it at scale and with much less burdens in order to address interferences," Leboucher said.

The EU is preparing the award process for the 2GHz MSS spectrum, with existing licenses held by EchoStar and ViaSat set to expire in May. Earlier this year, the European Commission (EC) published its proposal, which would effectively divide the band in three equal parts, one for government services, one reserved for commercial EU new entrants and one for both EU and non-EU commercial players.

Coincidentally, Orange is preparing a joint bid for the spectrum together with Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica. When the award takes place is uncertain and the EC's proposal to extend the current licenses by two years may be telling as to the expected timeline.

In the meantime, Orange is already offering a very limited satellite messaging service as part of its partnership with Skylo. However, it is only available to customers with Google Pixel 9 and 10 devices.

Leboucher acknowledged that the support is limited, saying "the goal was really to be able to start," and to understand how people will use the service. "But if we really want to get a very large scale, you need really need to be able to address many handsets, and that's why we need to go to look at other solutions as well," he stated.

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