11 April 2022

5G satellite operator OQ Technology successfully completed the in-orbit commissioning (IOC) of its Tiger-2 nanosatellite and is ready to begin customer demonstrations.

The company said it is already in talks with several potential customers interested in using the company’s satellite-based 5G IoT services and will start commercial services for “latency-tolerant” low-power devices beginning this year.

“Completing the IOC phase and the successful tests with our terminals in remote locations was a crucial step to start generating revenue via the satellite and progress the constellation with more satellites to be launched in early 2022,” said Omar Qaise, founder and CEO, OQ Technology. “In addition to potential customers, we are also negotiating with cellular chip partners to scale up the satellite access capability to existing cellular IoT chips globally. Our next step is starting service demonstrations with our potential customers and their use cases.”

OQ also tested and calibrated its working terminals in different fixed and mobile environments in the desert and for indoor usage. During tests, OQ sent the terminal’s GPS location to the satellite from inside a fast-moving car without having a direct line of sight to the sky. Even when buried in the desert sand, the terminal was still sending signals to the satellite, making it ideal for many agricultural applications. While the high level of signal to noise ratio surpassed OQ’s high expectations.

“Being able to track our terminals even indoors and covered by soil adds further possible services that we can offer to our customers,” Qaise added. “It opens the door for many potential use cases other satellite operators cannot provide. Over the next few years, OQ Technology is planning to launch a constellation of 72 satellites, providing 5G IoT and machine to machine (M2M) communication.”