{"id":325043,"date":"2026-03-02T14:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/325043\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:07:10","slug":"esa-announces-100-million-euro-satellite-mobile-convergence-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/325043\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA announces 100 million euro satellite-mobile convergence initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The European Space Agency announced up to 100 million euros ($118 million) in funding March 2 for projects promising to accelerate the convergence of satellite and terrestrial communications.<\/p>\n

The funding will be distributed in partnership with GSMA Foundry, the mobile industry association\u2019s innovation platform that connects operators, vendors and startups to develop and commercialize new technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy combining the reach of the mobile industry with ESA\u2019s space expertise, we are unlocking a new era of connectivity,\u201d GSMA chief technology officer Alex Sinclair said in a statement.<\/p>\n

He also pointed to live demonstrations taking place this week during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that aim to highlight direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity, early 6G capabilities and AI-enabled non-terrestrial network orchestration.<\/p>\n

The new funding targets four areas:<\/p>\n

Applying AI to manage spectrum and traffic across multi-orbit satellite and terrestrial networks.<\/p>\n

Advancing standards-based D2D connectivity for smartphones and Internet of Things devices.<\/p>\n

Expanding collaborative 5G\/6G hybrid network testbeds.<\/p>\n

Supporting early-stage 6G technologies, including edge computing that processes data closer to end users and advanced machine-to-machine and industrial connectivity services, where satellite integration is expected to play a key role.<\/p>\n

Funding is open to entities established in ESA Member States and cooperating countries, provided their projects align with 3GPP mobile industry standards.<\/p>\n

ESA first partnered with GSMA Foundry in 2024 to link its space-based connectivity programs with the mobile sector, establishing industry-led challenges and demonstrations focused on satellite-terrestrial integration.<\/p>\n

The expanded collaboration comes amid broader moves in Europe<\/a> to strengthen its position in the emerging D2D market, where U.S.-based SpaceX is rapidly scaling services through partnerships with terrestrial telcos and expanded access to mobile and satellite spectrum.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJason Rainbow writes about satellite telecom, finance and commercial markets for SpaceNews. He has spent more than a decade covering the global space industry as a business journalist. Previously, he was Group Editor-in-Chief for Finance Information Group,…\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Jason Rainbow\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The European Space Agency announced up to 100 million euros ($118 million) in funding March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[150681,220,9188,147915,10805,1813,6004,11390,61,7087,60,131619,82,1935,247],"class_list":{"0":"post-325043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-3gpp","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-direct-to-device","11":"tag-direct-to-smartphone","12":"tag-esa","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-fundraising","15":"tag-gsma","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-iot","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-mobile-world-congress","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-sn","22":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}