Satellite D2D gains 3GPP attention

A phone normally talks to a nearby cell tower. Direct-to-device satellite service tries to let the same kind of device talk to a satellite instead, and 3rd Generation Partnership Project work is now pulling that idea deeper into mainstream mobile standards. (3gpp.org) The standards body added non-terrestrial network support for 5G New Radio and for Internet of Things technologies in Release 17, then kept extending that work through later releases. 3rd Generation Partnership Project says Release 17 started support for Narrowband Internet of Things and enhanced machine-type communications over satellites, and its Release 19 page now shows the release as frozen after a December 12, 2025 end date. (3gpp.org; portal.3gpp.org) A new Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers paper, published in late March 2026, frames the next step as “Reduced Capability” direct-to-device links from low Earth orbit satellites to smaller, cheaper 5G devices. The paper says that model sits between full 5G handsets and very low-rate sensor links, targeting industrial and vertical uses that need more than classic massive machine-type communications can offer. (ieee.org; techrxiv.org) The basic engineering problem is distance and power. 3rd Generation Partnership Project’s own overview says low Earth orbit satellites, typically 500 to 2,000 kilometers up, have lower delay and a better link budget than higher orbits, but they move fast and need tighter beam management because the coverage area keeps shifting. (3gpp.org) That is why recent analyses keep focusing on low-band spectrum and high-gain antennas. Ericsson wrote in December 2025 that narrow spot beams, stronger radio designs and newer onboard silicon are what make direct-to-device links practical, while Cisco said in May 2025 that standards-based satellite links are moving beyond proprietary emergency messaging toward ordinary mobile and Internet of Things devices. (ericsson.com; cisco.com) Reduced Capability, usually shortened to RedCap, is 5G’s middle tier for devices that do not need full smartphone performance. Global mobile Suppliers Association says Release 17 introduced RedCap and Release 18 refined it as enhanced RedCap, positioning it between Narrowband Internet of Things, LTE-M and full 5G New Radio. (gsma.com; 3gpp.org) That makes satellite RedCap a better fit for meters, trackers, cameras and industrial sensors than for video-heavy consumer broadband. The March 2026 paper explicitly ties RedCap non-terrestrial networks to low-data-rate Internet of Things use cases while arguing that massive machine-type communications technologies and Narrowband Internet of Things still matter for the lowest-cost links. (techrxiv.org; ieee.org) The commercial push is already following the standards work. At Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2025, the European Space Agency and GSMA Foundry launched a direct-to-device challenge aimed at standard mobile devices connecting to satellites, with proposals due by December 31, 2025 and a stated preference for 3rd Generation Partnership Project-aligned systems over proprietary ones. (gsma.com) Vendors are also testing the newer specifications in orbit. MediaTek said in November 2025 that it completed what it called the first Release 19 5G-Advanced non-terrestrial network connection over Eutelsat OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites, using Ku-band spectrum and a 50 megahertz channel. (mediatek.com) The result is a more crowded design space than the early “satellite text message” era. Mobile operators, satellite operators and chip vendors are now choosing among ordinary 4G links from space, standardized non-terrestrial network features, Narrowband Internet of Things, and RedCap, with antenna gain, spectrum band and orbit height deciding which services can actually close the link. (ericsson.com; cisco.com; 3gpp.org)