By Intel Capital
Intel Capital has looked at investments in space tech companies over the last 20+ years, and until recently, we haven’t seen the right combination of capital efficiency, scalability and use case tailwinds that could drive venture scale returns. But with the expansion of launch and space infrastructure providers with the resulting reduction in cost and capex, and the emergence of high-value add applications, the scale opportunity has become much more compelling.
In Skylo’s case, this is especially true.
Skylo provides 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communications services for smartphones, IoT devices and mobile network operators. Its service works on common high-volume devices, and doesn’t require specially developed satellite devices. Skylo builds upon 3GPP 5G standards which bring a wealth of ecosystem support from industry leaders in chipsets, network equipment, regulatory bodies, device makers and satellite services.
Skylo has done an incredible job enabling the existing infrastructure to work with their service. It’s worked with 5G modem chipset providers, module makers, device makers, satellite services companies and MNOs to ensure the end-to-end solution is high quality, optimized and reliable. The company also developed a cost-effective 5G Core and RAN termination deployed at existing ground stations, making onboarding of the service to existing networks seamless. This drastically reduces the capex requirement of providing services and enables lower costs, both of which contribute to the scalability of Skylo’s services.
Read the rest of the blog here.