By Mike Robuck
Bullitt Group co-founder Richard Wharton argued the company has an early lead in connecting phones to satellites for two-way messaging services due to using existing assets.
During MWC23, Wharton explained Bullitt Group was taking a different tack to rivals including Apple and SpaceX by employing 3GPP standards.
“That has allowed us to sort of potentially get ahead,” he told Mobile World Live.
“We started this project literally two years to the day almost. We’re kind of leading the space race.”
He explained there were two primary options for satellite-to-phone services with the first using new birds and spectrum, the second being Bullitt Group’s approach of using existing assets with modified devices.
“That’s the quickest route,” he noted. “We’ve got the devices, which we’re shipping into channel and then the service goes live.”
During the event, Bullitt Group won a best in show Glomo Award for its Motorola Defy Satellite Link dongle, which connects smartphones to its satellite messaging service.
