Elveo Mobile exec shares D2D ambitions
October 8, 2026

By Chris Forrester



Elveo Mobile closed the merger between Lynk Global and Omnispace in August, proclaiming some unique features, not least access to global S-band frequencies and 80-strong foundational patent portfolio. Now, all the company has to do is to build and launch its base network of 320 LEO craft.

Advanced Television talked at length to Ram Viswanathan, Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer at Elveo Global.


He reminded us that Lynk was the first company to accomplish a full phone call between a standard cellphone and a satellite (back in July 2023). “Omnispace has also been busy and looking at next-generation capability in D2D as far as spectrum is concerned. Our constellation is designed to operate across S-band, other satellite bands, and mid-band MNO frequencies, and across multiple orbits with our partners. We we’re also early adopters of the 3GPP (the 3rd Generation Partnership project) protocol, helping lay down a set of unified standards for non-terrestrial networks. This work speaks to where the industry is heading and in particular the ability to handle roaming services onto next-generation devices,” he said.

Those ‘next generation’ devices, while looking forward to 6G telephony, the plan also allows backward compatibility to 2G basic telephony because there are many millions of 2G users in Asia. Looking further ahead Elveo’s roadmap includes higher data rates and even video.

“Our view of the system is totally global, providing 24/7 coverage and providing seamless global connectivity for voice, messaging and data services. Our package is a little different from others and based on our interactions with mobile operators.” Viswanathan adds: “Their message to us was that they need voice and messaging as quickly as possible.”

But what of the rival challenges, not least from the broadband satellite players? “You can look at the likes of some of the other players and the reality is a sub-optimal experience, where the user has to stand in an open field and point the device in a particular direction to achieve a basic degree of service. Our view is that for D2D connectivity to really take off and reach scale it must be seamless, and they should be able to receive connectivity in their devices everywhere and anywhere in the world, without having to twist themselves into a pretzel.”

“Our satellite and constellation design enables that in two respects. First, the technology is able to provide service to unmodified devices and going back into legacy technologies including 2G, 4G and 5G. In some parts of the world there are hundreds of millions of people using 2G devices. We think everyone deserves the same service regardless of what phone they own. Second, we address next-generation Non-Terrestrial Network, or NTN, technologies as well as other new features coming down the pipe and this includes connected cars, drones, etc.,” he adds.

Viswanathan acknowledges the bottlenecks in terms of launchers at the moment. “We are seeing older launch vehicles going offline, and while new vehicles are progressing they are not fully online. We anticipate something of a constraint over the next 18-24 months, however, we’re optimistic about active negotiations with a number of providers. There are also two important distinctions that put us at an advantage. The first is the efficiency of each launch. We have the ability to stack the satellites to about 25-30 in a single launch measured as the equivalent of a Falcon 9. With Falcon 9 being retired we know we can fit a lot more satellites into the newer vehicles. This gives us a more efficient path to launch without having to fit one, two or three satellites into a single launch vehicle which doesn’t help the current state of the launch industry. The consequence of this is that we have more launch providers who can fit and handle our satellites and cope with our launch cadence. We have Term Sheets in place now with multiple providers and we expect to be making announcements later this year confirming our plans.”

“As far as timing is concerned, our constellation is going to be launched in late 2027 and 2028 and commercial service beginning in mid-2028,” says Viswanathan.

Asked whether Elveo was having conversations with the likes of Rocket Lab, Viswanathan was coy. “We have a range of providers, globally, and those options allow us to leverage our requirements and their development. Some will carry more satellites than others, but because our satellites are more modular, the reality is that we can fit a lot more of them into a single launch vehicle. It gives us a lot more options.”

Then there’s the money. Building and launching, and establishing a business plan, is expensive. The current investor profile includes SES, as well as Tata, Fortress, Stepstone, Columbia Capital, Telcom Ventures and Blazar Ventures. “SES is a strategic partner by investing and also collaborating on a number of different fronts. Nelco Limited (Tata) is a giant player and they have joined us as an investor and strategic partner with enterprise as their particular focus. During Q4 you’ll hear about several other parties.”

The build-out of the fleet seems to be well in hand. Elveo has Apex as its production partner, and is tapping into Apex’s high-volume Factory X model to manufacture its designs at speed and scale. There will be a new factory. Viswanathan: “We are absolutely going to be vertically integrated with the obvious exception of launch. The design for the satellite bus is our own. We have optimised the bus with APEX so that we can achieve mass-manufacturing at scale. The payload is also designed by us and is based on the patented D2D technology that we hold. The compact nature of the satellites allow us to take advantage of launch efficiency, with adequate power to close the link to handheld devices.”

“Manufacturing will take place in a facility that we own in the US. APEX is helping us stand that up as our partner in order to provide the mass-manufacturing expertise and achieve high rates of production which they have achieved in their own factory in Los Angeles. “We anticipate having a second facility in Europe, and we are working with SES and are looking at options but will very likely will take advantage of some of the activities that SES is engaged in, in Luxembourg. We are also in discussions regarding a third facility in Asia.”

“This diversified, global supply chain is crucial to keeping costs down. Part of the mix is the ability to manufacture, but also to package and ship to a launch site wherever that may be.”

Viswanathan explains: “For the payload, we wanted two things. The first is universal compatibility with mobile phones which includes 2G, 4G and 5G and forward looking into NTN and 6G. They are software-defined payloads and can be adjusted on orbit at any time. They are also regenerative payloads, and as a result very considerable processing power on the payload. We are considering using some of the surplus processing to handle ‘processing at the edge’, in order to take advantage of some of the developments in AI, for example, and including some AI models but not data centers in the sky, but it would provide some computational ability for our enterprise customers and closer to them with lower latency. We believe this to be a unique aspect of our payload design. We have built and flown those payloads and have worked with mobile operators to test them and ensure that our systems work with their SIM cards, for example.”

“It isn’t just phones, but is also IoT, and in the automotive sector. You already have telematic systems which rely on terrestrial technologies. Today’s vehicles are essentially software on wheels, and we expect to be able to supply OEMs and integrators with technology that seamlessly links satellites with terrestrial for continuous connectivity to enable updates for telematics and safety updates. It means the vehicle is always ‘on’ and connected, everywhere and anywhere in the world. Our OEM contracted relationships will be announced in time.”

“This is around the world and is the second highest priority ITU filing in S-band. It gives us a market access footprint of more than 1 billion people and with secured licenses which are being expanded very rapidly. The tech, and combined with the spectrum, gives us a quality of service. The cost will be the major driver. To achieve scale we believe we need D2D and IoT services that are a fraction of the existing terrestrial ARPU. For example, if a user is paying $20 a month for a cellular service then we want to be less than a 10 per cent increment on that sum. That $2 will give you D2D availability. We will have usage plans for heavy users. But making your phone or data work when you are off the grid should be, we believe, a universal capability accessible by all markets. We want to achieve scale, so we think about this in a global context.”

But India is not $20 ARPU, he was asked. “That’s why we have Tata in the equation. In India and other Asian markets a $20 ARPU doesn’t exist. We have to think about these markets in a very different context. It will help that we are vertically integrated and can take control of costs and these are critical. We went out to the market and could not find a traditional satellite manufacturer who could hit our cost and performance points and thus could make the business case work. We came to the conclusion that we had to take our destiny into our own hands and to build everything ourselves with the help of partners, such as Apex and SES in terms of mass manufacturing. But in order to make this a truly global service we had to address the cost of that mobile connectivity in different parts of the world.”

Viswanathan says: “It would be wrong to assume that the industry is a ‘winner takes all’ position. We think there will be room for multiple providers in this space. They’ll each need to be well-capitalised and have a cost-effective system as well as having the technology and spectrum and the partnerships in place to scale. It is not unlike the individual markets where mobile operators already have a presence. There are usually three or four, and sometimes more, players in each market. We expect much the same in terms of satellite operators. The key is ultimately going to be down to cost. If a supplier ends up with a service that costs $10-$20 per month just for D2D then, in our view, a limiting market. Our view is that scale is the route to success and we have designed the business from the ground up to achieve that scale.”

“There is a distinction between us and the broadband world which includes SpaceX and Amazon LEO. We are not in that space. We are planning to be narrowband, with a measured path to broadband. Some of our rival systems have technologies which are limited to what they can address and the services which they can supply. The other key benefit we have is our spectrum.”