In today’s digital world, few things are quite as frustrating as losing signal or seeing the dreaded “spinning wheel of death” on our laptop or smartphone screens. With so much of our daily lives now dependent on being online, this can be extremely disruptive.
Despite great leaps in connectivity technology over the last three decades – around 95% of the world’s population has access to a cellular network1 – many rural areas still lack sufficient network infrastructure.
Of course, it makes sense to prioritize network coverage in urban areas, where most people live and work, but the rapid growth of IoT in recent years has increased the need to extend coverage to more remote regions that are beyond the reach of cellular networks. This creates a coverage gap that limits the potential of several IoT applications.
As the demand for IoT connectivity grows – in 2024 almost 5,000 devices will be connected to the internet every minute2 – so does the need for truly global network coverage. After all, how can we reap the rewards of a fully connected world without first enabling global connectivity?
Thanks to recent developments in satellite technology, bridging this gap can finally become a reality.