UK comms regulator Ofcom has confirmed that it will move ahead with plans to make the UK the first country in Europe to enable standard smartphones to connect to satellites using mobile spectrum bands.

It means that services could soon be offered in the UK to enable standard smartphones to make calls, send texts and connect to the Internet when there is no coverage from mobile masts on the ground, helping to connect the UK’s most rural and hard-to-reach places.

The announcement follows a consultation earlier in 2025 in which Ofcom proposed several different approaches to authorising this ‘direct to device’ technology being used in mobile spectrum bands.

It has decided to authorise these services by introducing a variation to Mobile Network Operators’ (MNOs) existing licences. Alongside this, it will also create a new exemption regulation to make it lawful for ordinary users to connect to a satellite in mobile spectrum bands using a standard smartphone.

Accordingly, Ofcom is opening a further consultation seeking views on the conditions it would include in the MNO licence variation, and on its intention to create an exemption to permit mobile handsets and other sim-enabled devices to connect to direct-to-device services.

It welcomes responses to the consultation by October 10th 2025.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Business, MNO, Mobile, Policy, Regulation, Satellite, Spectrum

Tags: MNOs, mobile spectrum, Ofcom