Elveo Mobile plans to launch its 320-satellite LEO constellation in late 2027 and 2028, with commercial direct-to-device (D2D) service starting in mid-2028. The company, formed by the August merger of Lynk Global and Omnispace, says its combination of global S-band spectrum rights and an 80-patent portfolio positions it for narrowband voice, messaging and data at a fraction of terrestrial pricing.

Ram Viswanathan, Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer at Elveo Global, laid out the roadmap in an interview with Advanced Television. He restated the founding claim of the merged entity: Lynk completed the first full phone call between a standard cellphone and a satellite in July 2023.

"Omnispace has also been busy and looking at next-generation capability in D2D as far as spectrum is concerned," Viswanathan said. "Our constellation is designed to operate across S-band, other satellite bands, and mid-band MNO frequencies, and across multiple orbits with our partners."

What does the spectrum position buy Elveo?

The company holds what Viswanathan calls the second-highest-priority ITU filing in S-band, giving it a market-access footprint of more than 1 billion people, with secured licenses expanding rapidly. Elveo was also an early adopter of 3GPP protocols for non-terrestrial networks (NTN), work Viswanathan says supports roaming onto next-generation devices.

The payload strategy is deliberately broad: software-defined, regenerative payloads compatible with 2G, 4G and 5G handsets, forward-looking to NTN and 6G. Backward compatibility to 2G matters commercially — Viswanathan notes hundreds of millions of people, many in Asia, still use 2G devices. "We think everyone deserves the same service regardless of what phone they own," he said.

Elveo has built and flown test payloads with mobile operators and validated operation with their SIM cards.

How does Elveo answer the broadband satellite rivals?

Viswanathan draws a hard line against SpaceX and Amazon's LEO ventures. "There is a distinction between us and the broadband world which includes SpaceX and Amazon LEO. We are not in that space. We are planning to be narrowband, with a measured path to broadband," he said.

He is blunt about the user experience of some competing D2D efforts: "The reality is a sub-optimal experience, where the user has to stand in an open field and point the device in a particular direction to achieve a basic degree of service." For D2D to reach scale, he argues, service must work on unmodified devices everywhere, "without having to twist themselves into a pretzel."

Pricing is the core of the argument. Elveo wants D2D to cost users less than a 10% increment on their terrestrial bill — under $2 on a $20 monthly ARPU. In markets like India, where $20 ARPU does not exist, Tata-backed Nelco joins as investor and strategic partner with an enterprise focus. "In India and other Asian markets a $20 ARPU doesn't exist. We have to think about these markets in a very different context," Viswanathan said.

Can the launch and manufacturing plan hold?

Viswanathan acknowledges a launch bottleneck: older vehicles are going offline while new ones are not fully online, and he expects constraint over the next 18-24 months. Elveo's answer is density — stacking 25-30 satellites per launch on a Falcon 9-equivalent basis, with more capacity in newer vehicles. Term sheets are in place with multiple providers, with announcements expected later this year.

Manufacturing is vertically integrated except for launch:

• Satellite bus designed in-house and optimized with production partner Apex for mass manufacturing
• Payload based on Elveo's patented D2D technology
• First factory in a US-owned facility, using Apex's high-volume Factory X model
• A second facility planned in Europe, likely leveraging SES activities in Luxembourg
• Discussions underway for a third facility in Asia

Current investors include SES, Tata (Nelco), Fortress, Stepstone, Columbia Capital, Telcom Ventures and Blazar Ventures. Additional parties will be announced in Q4, according to Viswanathan. He also expects surplus on-orbit processing capacity to support edge computing, including AI models, for enterprise customers at lower latency.

Beyond phones, Elveo targets IoT and automotive telematics, aiming to keep connected vehicles always-on via satellite-terrestrial links, with OEM contract announcements to come.

Viswanathan rejects the winner-takes-all framing for the sector, expecting three or four satellite operators to coexist as mobile operators do in national markets — with cost the deciding factor. Elveo's constellation launches in late 2027, and commercial service begins in mid-2028.