Beijing Guodian Gaoke Technology has received China's first two-year trial license for satellite Internet of Things operations, marking a significant step in the country's efforts to advance commercial space applications.
Relying on its self-built Tianqi Constellation, China's first low-Earth orbit constellation, Guodian Gaoke will provide users with wide-coverage, low-power, and highly reliable IoT connectivity services, achieving intelligent data collection and remote control in sectors such as marine fisheries, energy and water resources, transportation, and logistics, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement on May 6.
Satellite IoT services are low-speed data services that provide wide-area IoT connectivity for data collection terminals, wearable devices, handheld terminals, and other devices, as well as transportation vehicles, such as cars, ships, and aircraft, via satellite communication technology.
This pilot will help the Chinese satellite IoT sector achieve economies of scale, support the establishment of a regulatory, collaborative, and mutually beneficial industrial ecosystem, stimulate the vitality of the private economy, foster the development of commercial aerospace, and cultivate new quality productive forces, according to the MIIT.
Guodian Gaoke will make full use of the two-year trial to accelerate system construction and service activation of the Tianqi Constellation, aiming to achieve global IoT coverage, an executive said, adding that the company will strictly comply with requirements for network operation security, service quality, and code resource management to ensure smooth communication.
Guodian Gaoke has already completed the first phase of the global networking of the Tianqi Constellation system, with a total of 41 in-orbit satellites in service.
The awarding of this license shows that China's commercial aerospace and satellite communications are shifting from strict control to pilot demonstrations under regulatory guidance, Wu Qi, senior researcher at public policy research institute Pangoal Institution, told Yicai.
This move breaks the previous pattern where satellite communications were primarily state-led and supports private enterprises in participating in related operations, thus helping stimulate market vitality and lower the entry barriers in the commercial aerospace sector, Wu explained.
Over the next two to three years, the development of Chinese LEO satellite IoT constellations will accelerate, complementing fifth- and sixth-generation terrestrial networks, Wu predicted.
The miniaturization and cost reduction of terminals will become the focal point of competition, he noted, adding that application scenarios will rapidly expand from a single domain such as container tracking to multiple industries, including smart agriculture, emergency communications, and the Internet of Vehicles.
The compound annual growth rate of China's satellite IoT service industry is expected to exceed 40 percent in the five years between 2024 and 2028, according to a forecast by Taibo Think Tank. By 2028, the industry will likely reach CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) in market size.
