Bullitt and MediaTek have collaborated for the past 18 months to enable direct satellite communication in Bullitt's next-generation 5G smartphones. The British manufacturer is the first to utilize MediaTek's 3GPP NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) chipset. They have also developed proprietary software components and services to provide satellite-based OTT messaging.

The device's software is intelligent and connects via satellite only when no terrestrial or Wi-Fi connection is available. The service integrates with the user's existing contacts to provide a seamless experience when using the satellite link and communicating with another phone on a mobile network. The initial connection time to the satellite and sending a message is approximately 10 seconds.

Richard Wharton, co-founder of the Bullitt Group, explains: "Bullitt designs and manufactures mobile phones under brand licenses from Cat (Caterpillar Inc.) and Motorola. Over the past 13 years, we have developed a deep understanding of our customers who, due to the nature of their lifestyle or work, are often outdoors and frequently lack cell phone coverage. Worldwide, mobile phone users lose signal for tens of billions of hours each year... Americans alone lose cell phone coverage for more than 22 billion hours annually. Losing signal is something we have all experienced at some point. Depending on the situation, it can lead to inconvenience, frustration, anxiety, lost productivity, or even loss of life.".

"We've known for some time that the answer lay in satellite, but seamless, 'invisible' integration into a smartphone presents enormous technical challenges. MediaTek and Bullitt share a pioneering spirit and a history of innovation, so now, after almost two years of collaboration, we are jointly leading a new era in telecommunications and enabling our operator channel partners to offer complete peace of mind to their customers in the fastest and simplest way possible.".

JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Wireless Communications Business Unit at MediaTek, adds: "This relationship continues our long history of innovation and leadership in formulating the 3GPP NTN standard, which combines mobile and satellite connectivity in the same device. Beyond the latest mobile technology and the most sophisticated, higher-performing mobile connectivity features we've worked on, the 3GPP NTN effort advocates for enabling device manufacturers to access satellite connectivity. We are very proud to have created the two-way satellite messaging technology used in this first commercially available phone and to be pioneers in creating the ecosystem based on the 3GPP NTN standards for satellite communication."