Over the past decade, China's commercial aerospace industry has launched hundreds of satellites into space. But the real challenge is not this step.
After satellites are put into orbit, the real problem facing all participants is how to achieve continuous paid usage of these space assets. Globally, the number of companies that can realize large-scale commercial implementation of low-orbit satellite IoT can be counted on one hand.
In the commercial aerospace circle, most people may still take it for granted that the next inflection point will come from a technological breakthrough, such as lower launch costs brought by reusable rockets, and larger constellations brought by mass manufacturing. However, as low-orbit satellites gradually complete network deployment, the industry has begun to realize that what truly determines the competitive landscape in the second half of commercial aerospace is not just technology, but who can take the lead in completing the leap from "building constellations" to "operating networks".
This year, this inflection point has seen an important landmark.
Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has approved the commercial test license for satellite IoT services, with a test period of two years. Geespace has become the first private enterprise in China to obtain this approval. This means that the satellite IoT operation business of private enterprises has been officially incorporated into the national telecommunications regulatory system for pilot implementation. Relying on its self-owned constellation, Geespace can provide global users with wide-coverage, low-power, highly reliable connection services, and simultaneously carry out IoT NTN technology tests to promote the R&D and commercial application of key 6G satellite communication technologies.
In the field of low-orbit satellites, the weight of this approval is far more than just adding a business qualification to private companies. More importantly, it means that China's satellite IoT has begun to enter a new stage from "building networks" to "operating networks".
In 2026, the satellite Internet was included in the government work report as a separate item for the first time, and then incorporated into 109 major projects of the 15th Five-Year Plan; in April, the China National Space Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the Commercial Aerospace Standard System (Version 1.0). From the government work report to the 15th Five-Year Plan, and then to the construction of the industry standard system, the signal released at the national level is very clear: commercial aerospace is moving from the technology verification stage to the window period of full industrialized implementation.
The approval is landed right at this critical juncture.
It can be said that this approval is not only an institutional confirmation of the industrial capacity accumulation over the past decade, but also an important starting point for China's satellite IoT to move towards large-scale commercial operation. The signal it releases is very clear: in the future industry competition, the competition will no longer only focus on the number of satellites, but on who can build a stable, safe and continuously operating satellite communication network that truly serves industries and users.
Judging from the capabilities demonstrated by the approved enterprises this time, the answer has gradually become clear: the real competition in commercial aerospace is shifting from "manufacturing satellites and forming constellations" to "operating networks", and from "capacity building" to "value realization".
