Skylo at MWC Barcelona: The forefront of satellite connectivity

At this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Skylo made its mark by showcasing our satellite connectivity solutions, placing a spotlight on the future of communication technology that is actually available today. Skylo was selected to display at the GSMA Pavilion and demonstrated cutting-edge satellite connectivity on exciting consumer devices that are currently available in the market. With a strong emphasis on connecting remote and off-grid areas, Skylo’s booth featured live demonstrations of satellite-powered messaging, including SOS alerts, SMS, and even AI-enabled communication through SatChat. In this blog, we’ll explore the key moments, partnerships, and announcements that set Skylo apart at MWC Barcelona 2025 and solidified its role at the forefront of satellite connectivity.

Skylo at the GSMA Pavilion

This year, Skylo was invited to display at the GSMA pavilion which is at the very center of the event. We took the opportunity to showcase our latest satellite capabilities, which are live now and commercially available on consumer devices in select markets. We had three phones on display: the Google Pixel XL, the Google Pixel Fold, and the Samsung Galaxy S25. These devices highlighted SOS messaging, SMS messaging, and SatChat (our AI Chatbot) over satellite. Visitors could see and interact with Skylo on the latest commercially available devices. 

We also had a live satellite messaging demonstration. With help from the GSMA team who are the organizers of the overall event, we mirrored a Google Pixel 9 on a large touchscreen display so visitors could type messages to themselves or interact directly with SatChat to see first-hand just how fast Skylo’s satellite messaging truly is. The indoor satellite connection was made possible by Sreedhar Sambangi, Director of Engineering at Skylo, and Hyoungjun Cho, our lead Solution Engineer, with an RF cable directly connecting the device to our Earth Station since the demonstration was indoors.

Inaugural Partner Connection Series

With our first dedicated physical presence at this major event, we took the opportunity to invite many of our partners and have them share their stories about satellite connectivity, their latest innovations, and the future of communications. Over the course of the week, we met with Solara, Transsion, Telit, Kigen, Grinn, Kyocera, and Anritsu.

Check out our LinkedIn to see these full interviews!

Announcements and expanded partnerships

This important week for the industry was full of many announcements from Skylo and our partners. On February 27, we were excited to announce a $30M funding round led by Nokia Growth Partners. This announcement also introduced our expanded coverage to Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.

We kicked off the week with an announcement from Nordic Semiconductor. This press release shared that the nRF9151, a low-power cellular module, is entering our satellite certification process.

‍“This collaboration with Skylo opens the door to a new class of IoT solutions that can operate in remote or off-grid environments with standard ultra-low power cellular solutions like the nRF9151.” — Oyvind Birkenes, EVP of Nordic’s Long Range Business Unit

On the first day of the show, Harman announced “Ready Connect”, the industry’s first telematics control unit (TCU) product to feature satellite communication capabilities. Powered by Skylo, this innovation delivers anytime, anywhere connectivity. 

“Meaningful industry transformation is driven by collaboration. By working alongside leading innovators like Skylo and HERE, as well as leveraging Samsung’s consumer technology expertise, we are harnessing collective intelligence to redefine in-cabin experiences. HARMAN is uniquely positioned to deliver ubiquitous connectivity and empathetic AI-driven solutions that are enhancing vehicles today and for the future.” — Pascal Peguret, SVP, Connectivity, HARMAN International

In perhaps one of the most impactful announcements of the show, Deutsche Telekom and Google announced that they were able to test SMS over Satellite on the Pixel 9 with Skylo connectivity. The Pixel 9 was directly connected to Skylo’s satellite service using a dedicated licensed Mobile Satellite Spectrum (MSS). By integrating a non-terrestrial network into the terrestrial mobile operator’s production network, this approach ensures seamless coverage everywhere.

It doesn’t stop there! Check out these other releases from our partners:

• SATELLAI Unveils First-Ever Satellite-Powered Pet Tracker at MWC 2025
• Grinn, Skylo, and KYOCERA AVX Introduce Future-Ready Satellite IoT Solution at MWC 2025

Panel Session: Seamless global IoT connectivity experience in a multi-bearer world

Paul Hanton, our VP of Global Carrier Sales, spoke on this panel session with Matt Hatton from Transforma Insights, Andreas Morawietz from Giesecke+Devrient, Shamik Basu from Verizon Business, and Jens Olejak from Deutsche Telekom. They discussed the complex satellite ecosystem and how to create a seamless user experience while bringing together multiple stakeholders.

Paul shared the current status of satellite connectivity in the industry and how Skylo approaches working with our carrier partners. It is a complicated implication, but Skylo is utilizing spectrum for intended purposes, simplifying our ability to market quickly. We use MSS spectrum, which provides a complete network overlay and solves the network interference problem. Because we use existing satellites and have an existing regulatory framework in place worldwide, we are commercially available today.

He also discussed our ground-up approach to satellite connectivity. We are building an ecosystem of chipsets, modules, and devices that are Skylo satellite certified that carriers can take advantage of now. By extending our network, this gives the ecosystem the confidence that they can develop their satellite capabilities knowing that it is going to be deployed effectively. 

Another critical point of the Skylo technology story is that our network is live and commercially available today. We have the industry’s only certification program for satellite connectivity and have huge amounts of data in the network. This ignites an incredible amount of innovation in the global cellular ecosystem. The ability to extend the reach of cellular connectivity can be very impactful for many industry verticals. Because Skylo integrates with the industry’s most important standards such as 3GPP Rel 17, we can rapidly integrate with mobile carriers around the world to further our mission of continuous coverage.

AI at the Edge: Satellite Connectivity is powering the next generation of IoT

Tami Erwin, a board member of Skylo and several other prominent technology and space companies, led an impactful discussion at the 5G IoT Summit. She elaborated on why the moment for satellite connectivity and IoT is happening now. The industry is growing rapidly and expecting  to have 1 billion IoT connections by the end of this year. The availability of satellite connectivity, the importance of data, and an interoperable ecosystem are driving this growth.

The wireless industry has certainly evolved over the past 40 years, but one constant has been the rapid adoption in mobility. Its hard to believe at this point, but the US government used to give the rights to mobile spectrum usage away for free.  Today, mobile spectrum frequently transacts at the $55B mark. Despite all this progress, only 15% of the world is covered with cellular coverage today. The next evolution will see satellite connectivity evolve even faster than we have seen cellular evolve. Some of this progress can already be seen in defense, direct-to-device, and IoT markets.

IoT, already a $35B market, is already at scale and can be found everywhere in daily life. But, the question is: how do you connect everyone and everything and use that data to fuel business innovation? As Industrial IoT grows within the larger market opportunity, connected industrial machines are now coming online at a rate that is hard to imagine. What do you do with all that data? There is a massive increase in connected devices that are arriving right as AI processing power comes online. This data allows you to solve those customer pains. Data is currency, and we have more data than ever. AI and edge computing allows us to use that data in real time and evolve quickly to the opportunity. This is the advent of industrial-scale AI.

Satellite connectivity scales this opportunity even further across the globe. With only 15% of Earth’s surface covered by cellular networks, 25% of IoT revenues will be attributed to satellite connectivity in the near future. 

Looking Skyward: NTNs and the Next Era of Global Connectivity

Our CEO and co-founder, Parthsarathi Trivedi, spoke on a panel with David Goldman from SpaceX and Eva Berneke from Eutelsat Group. They explored how Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) are being developed, deployed, and integrated with terrestrial networks to enhance coverage around the world. Reliability and the end-user experience are the top factors in any satellite connection. They also examined the strategic partnerships and advancements that are driving NTN adoption today, along with the challenges that remain from cost and regulatory barriers to latency and data security.

GLOMO Awards 2025

Last, but certainly not least, Skylo was thrilled to have won our 2nd consecutive Global Mobile (GLOMO) award at MWC for Best Non-Terrestrial Network Solution. A big congratulations go out to the whole team for what was definitely an amazing team effort! 

Our partners on Google’s Android and Pixel teams also won the Breakthrough Device Innovation award for Google Gemini, as well as their 2nd consecutive Best Smartphone award for the Pixel 9 with satellite connectivity powered by Skylo. Working with top-tier partners like Google has been an honor and a major highlight of our recent successes.

What’s next?

Skylo's presence at MWC Barcelona 2025 marked a defining moment in the history of our company. By showcasing cutting-edge technology and the powerful new partnerships we have formed, Skylo is demonstrating its commitment to transforming global communication and driving forward the future of satellite connectivity. As we continue to expand our reach and bring connectivity across the globe, Skylo is paving the way for a more connected world. We look forward to the next steps in enhancing global communications, and we are excited to continue working with our partners to unlock the full potential of satellite technology. The sky is not the limit – it’s just the beginning.