MWC 2025, Barcelona: Germany-based security tech group Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) has announced a satellite IoT deal with US satellite connectivity startup Skylo, offering Release-17 level (5G-compatible) NB-IoT on geostationary (GEO) satellites. It follows a parallel G+D deal with Spanish firm Sateliot, in the process of launching a low-Earth orbit (LEO) NB-IoT satellite constellation. Skylo will patch-in LEO coverage, alongside, as operators like Sateliot bring their services online.
Cellular IoT is very much back on the agenda at MWC 2025, spurred in part by the growth of non-terrestrial network (NTN) features in the 5G standard, and of services to take advantage of them. (More coverage to follow.) G+D is promising to integrate terrestrial and satellite connectivity into its global IoT SIM offer – including eSIM or iSIM (or old-school physical SIM), plus managed IoT airtime. The deal with Skylo means “commercial operations today”, said G+D.
Customers can also purchase parts of its solution stack, whether the SIM connectivity or management system. A press note recited the satellite IoT pitch about limited / zero coverage at sea, and in remote and rural locations. “This gap in connectivity presents a significant challenge for the rapidly expanding IoT sector,” the company stated. “Without extended coverage reaching these previously inaccessible areas, the full potential of IoT solutions cannot be realised.”
It suggested use cases such as asset tracking and monitoring where terrestrial networks do not go for agriculture and logistics (and transport) as “just a few possibilities”. GEO satellites are located at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometres; LEO satellites are at an altitude of between 400 and 1,500 kilometres.
Philipp Schulte, chief executive for mobile security at G+D, said: “As demand for IoT connectivity continues to rise, the need for seamless global coverage becomes essential. Only [with this] can the full potential of IoT… be realised and leveraged to its maximum impact… We can now further close this coverage gap by offering IoT services that utilise both mobile networks and GEO and LEO satellite networks.”
