From 5G NR-NTN milestones to mmWave research, Qualcomm is working to make satellite connectivity a core part of the 6G system
As the telecommunications industry moves toward 6G commercialization in 2029, Qualcomm is working to make non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) a foundational part of the future system rather than a niche extension of terrestrial network (TN) coverage. That work is progressing through a combination of research, prototyping and ecosystem collaboration aimed at bringing satellite communications more tightly into the mainstream mobile architecture.
Ahead of Mobile World Congress this year, Ericsson and Qualcomm achieved technical alignment on fundamental 6G radio innovations and validated them through collaborative lab prototypes, underscoring the broader industry push to move 6G from concept toward commercialization. The bigger goal here is to support persistent, agentic AI experiences across multiple devices, as well as the expected increase in uplink demand required to support wide-area AI services.
For Qualcomm, NTN is not a late addition to the roadmap. As Amira Alloum, Director of Engineering at Qualcomm France, explained, “We have started working on NTN a few years ago and our global research and prototyping team has built foundation breakthroughs over the years.” That work has followed a clear progression. In 2023, Qualcomm demonstrated 5G NTN with Ericsson. In 2024, the breakthrough was a 5G NTN over-the-air call demonstration. In 2025, the work advanced again with mobility features designed to support seamless handover from TN to NTN and back.
The 2025 milestone gave that trajectory public proof. Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Thales Alenia Space announced in March 2025 that they had successfully connected a 5G standards-based NTN call using a simulated low earth orbit (LEO) satellite channel. The companies said the trial showed that an NR-NTN capable device could maintain mobile coverage across areas served by either NTNs or TNs.
Alloum filled out the technical path behind that result. In 2024, Qualcomm used a 5G NR NTN over-the-air testbed to assess mobile platform antenna performance along a LEO satellite trajectory. The company also used a graphical interface to visualize live KPIs, including signal-to-noise ratio, throughput, delay and Doppler shift. A cabled testbed demonstrated service continuity between TN and NTN networks as well as intra-NTN handovers during a live video call. In 2025, Qualcomm extended that work with over-the-air seamless handovers between TN and NTN and between 5G NR-NTN capable satellites with mobile devices, along with sounding reference signal-based antenna selection to improve the user experience across smartphones, laptops and vehicles.
The next step, Alloum said, is about opening up even more capacity. “The big story is about unlocking the millimeter wave high capacity for the future NTN services that are expected by the industry.” She added, “We demonstrated that we can overcome the pathloss challenges of higher frequency thanks to advanced beamforming and directional tracking.” That work used a Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF system, four QTM567 mmWave antenna modules and 64 dual-polarization antennas with 53 dBm peak EIRP.
Looking ahead to 2029, Qualcomm’s focus is on pulling satellite communications directly into the 6G architecture. As Alloum explained, “The focus now as 6G is approaching is to incorporate the satellite communication into the 6G story in a way to have a unified air interface and as a way to consider the satellite communication as a core component of the system instead of just an alternative.” That is the larger significance of Qualcomm’s NTN work. Beyond simply extending coverage, the goal is to make NTN/TN integration part of the design center for 6G itself.
