The FCC granted the first-ever commercial license for a satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service to Lynk Global. The license enables Lynk to launch commercial services for its global constellation of satellites later this year.
Lynk launched Lynk Tower 1, the first satellite covered by the FCC license, on April 1. Lynk is scheduled to launch three more satellites — also known as Lynk Towers 2, 3 and 4 and Lynk’s 7th, 8th, and 9th cell-towers-in-space — later this year as the company advances toward deploying its global service. Lynk has signed contracts with 15 mobile network operators (MNOs) in 36 countries representing over 240M mobile subscribers, and is actively testing in 10 countries.
Steve Case, Chairman of Revolution (Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund is an investor in Lynk) and Co-Founder of America Online (AOL) stated, “Having co-founded America Online, I understand and support Lynk’s mission to connect everyone on Earth via its satellite-direct-to-cell-phone service. With the FCC approval of the world’s first commercial satellite-direct-to-phone license, Lynk is one major step closer to achieving its goals. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund is proud to back a business that recognizes the value in connecting the 8 billion people on this planet—from both a business and global safety perspective.”
