Satellite-to-Phone Connectivity

Satellite phones are not new. What is changing is ordinary smartphones connecting directly to satellites.

For years satellite communication required specialist devices and dedicated terminals used by remote workers, maritime users, emergency responders, military personnel and journalists operating beyond normal mobile coverage.

Most people rely on terrestrial networks. That means everything connecting your phone or laptop to the internet through ground-based infrastructure. The cell tower in your street. The cables between exchanges. Your home broadband and Wi-Fi router. If it sits on the ground and carries your data it is part of the terrestrial network.

When those networks are unavailable, damaged, congested, jammed or out of range, connectivity fails. That is where direct-to-device satellite connectivity becomes relevant.

The shift has already started

Apple's satellite features allow compatible iPhones to contact emergency services with no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. Starlink is developing direct-to-cell services using low Earth orbit satellites. AST SpaceMobile has received FCC approval to operate a constellation providing supplemental coverage through existing mobile partners.

Full satellite broadband to every phone as an everyday service is not here yet. But the move from specialist satellite hardware towards ordinary satellite-capable smartphones has begun.

Image 1: Starlink V1.5, V2 and V3.

Later Starlink satellites are expected to be larger and more capable to support direct-to-device connectivity. V3-class satellites are widely discussed as requiring Starship-scale launch capacity rather than routine Falcon 9 deployment. A larger antenna array can help the satellite focus a stronger and more precise signal beam towards a device on the ground. That is what makes connecting to an ordinary smartphone physically possible.

The signal strength problem

Many low Earth orbit communication satellites operate hundreds of kilometres above Earth. Research modelling often uses altitudes of around 550–560 km to illustrate the scale of the signal-strength challenge. Purpose-built ground terminals use large, focused antennas to receive these signals. Smartphones, by contrast, rely on much smaller built-in antennas. As a result, the received signal strength can be thousands of times weaker than with a dedicated ground terminal.

The solution is beamforming. Instead of broadcasting a signal in all directions, the satellite uses an array of antennas to focus power precisely towards a specific device. It is the difference between a lightbulb spreading light across a room and a torch aimed at a single point.

Image 2: Beamforming & Focusing the Signal.

Left: unfocused signal spreading in all directions with most power wasted. Right: beamforming concentrating power directly at the device on the ground.

A satellite has limited power. Beamforming focuses that power like a torch beam rather than spreading it like a lightbulb. This is one of the key techniques that allows a satellite to reach a standard smartphone without a specialist terminal on the ground.

Multiple satellites, one phone

Research published in 2026 by engineers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology shows how multiple satellites can coordinate to serve the same device simultaneously. Instead of connecting to one satellite a phone could receive data streams from several at once improving both speed and reliability. If one satellite moves out of range or is blocked, others may help maintain continuity. This coordination does not require the satellites to be precisely synchronised with each other removing one of the main practical barriers to real-world deployment.

Image 3: One Phone, Multiple Satellites.

Four satellites each sending a differently coloured beam to a single smartphone on the ground.

Future systems may allow a device to receive signals from several satellites simultaneously improving resilience and reducing the impact of movement, blockage or coverage gaps. Each satellite sends part of the data. The phone combines the signals.

Why this changes the risk landscape

Wider access creates wider exposure.

For ordinary users a satellite-capable phone can communicate outside normal network infrastructure even when that infrastructure is deliberately disrupted.

For organisations satellite-capable devices may bypass local network controls, corporate gateways or expected monitoring points.

The criminal threat: more than jamming

Jamming means broadcasting interference on the same frequency a satellite uses to block the signal. GPS jamming is already documented across multiple regions. Direct-to-device services use different frequencies but any wireless link can be vulnerable to interference if an attacker can affect the relevant signal path.

Spoofing mimics a legitimate signal. Spoofing or false-signal attacks could attempt to mislead devices or disrupt trust in the connection.

Covert communications. Historically, communicating beyond terrestrial network reach often required expensive and visible specialist hardware. A standard smartphone with satellite capability removes that barrier. Networks operating in remote areas, across borders or at sea gain a communications channel that no longer depends on infrastructure authorities can monitor or disrupt.

Evading lawful interception. Legal frameworks for intercepting communications are built around terrestrial infrastructure. When traffic routes through a satellite path it may complicate existing lawful intercept, monitoring and governance models that were designed for that environment.

Fraud and identity threats. SIM fraud, account compromise and interception attempts will follow satellite connectivity as they have followed every previous generation of mobile technology. Security frameworks built on terrestrial assumptions will need updating.

Physical security in sensitive locations. A satellite-capable phone carried into a restricted environment can communicate outside any local network controls in place. Existing device policies and physical security protocols may not account for this.

This technology does not create new crimes. It reduces friction, increases reach, and may weaken some existing assumptions around visibility, control and disruption.

The point for security awareness

Satellite connectivity is moving from specialist equipment into everyday phones and the infrastructure is being built now.

Criminal networks adapt quickly to new communications capabilities. They do not wait for policy frameworks to catch up. A new channel emerges, legitimate users adopt it, and those seeking to avoid detection follow.

The gap between how fast this technology is moving and how slowly security awareness tends to follow is where the risk lives.

IntSpired®
Offensive by Design. Intelligent by Nature.

References:
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, "Joint and Streamwise Distributed MIMO Satellite Communications with Multi-Antenna Ground Users" (2026)

NextBigFuture, "Satellite Direct to Cellphone — SpaceX Starlink vs Apple vs AST Space Mobile" (2025).