MediaTek and Bullitt Partner to Launch Two-Way Satellite Smartphone

The Bullitt Group has joined with chipmaker MediaTek to introduce what it calls “the world’s first smartphone to feature two-way satellite messaging capabilities.” Though this market is becoming very competitive, Bullitt says that the phone and satellite service will go on the market in the first quarter of 2023, along with a year of free satellite SOS messaging.

• Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
• 
• 

This means Bullitt is competing with T-Mobile US and SpaceX’s Starlink for messaging from space. Earlier, Nokia and AST SpaceMobile said they had signed a five-year 5G deal to build a space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones. AST SpaceMobile is a wholesale satellite operator working with Globe Telecom, Vodafone, and others to deliver satellite services to standard mobile phones.

Bullitt is the First to Use MediaTek’s 3GPP NTN Chipset

The most recent entrant, Bullitt, stated that it and MediaTek had worked over the last 18 months to enable the addition of direct-to-satellite communication in its next-generation Bullitt 5G smartphones. Bullitt also said it is the first to use MediaTek’s 3GPP NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) chipset.

Also Read: Apple Spent $450 Million to Bring Satellite Connectivity on iPhone 14

Intelligent Device Software

Bullitt stated that the device switches to the satellite link only when no cellular or Wi-Fi connection is available. This service also integrates users’ contacts in such a way as to provide a seamless experience when using the satellite link to communicate with a phone on a cellular network. The time to initially connect to the satellite and send a message is around 10 seconds.