February 06, 2026

By

Laurence Russell

Vodafone is partnering with Internet of Things (IoT) space firm Skylo Technologies.

The companies plan to come together to bring satellite non-terrestrial network (NTN) narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) connectivity into the telco's global IoT services, allowing devices to switch between terrestrial cellular networks and Skylo’s satellite offering through the same Vodafone SIM card.

"This trial is a critical step in bringing our 3GPP-compliant satellite connectivity to Vodafone’s IoT ecosystem,” Parthsarathi Trivedi, CEO and co-founder of Skylo, said in a statement. “We are demonstrating how Skylo’s network can seamlessly extend Vodafone IoT’s reach into the most remote areas, adding millions of square kilometers of coverage. It’s about proving that 'anywhere connectivity' is no longer a future concept – it’s here, it’s standards-based, and it’s ready for global scale.”

The initial phase of the project involves trialling the technology with the intent to offer a full commercial service in the near future. On its own, satellite IoT roaming is useful for logistics, maritime, environmental monitoring, asset tracking, and agriculture, though a hybridization of the technology with terrestrial diversifies the offering.

This hybrid model, in which existing terrestrial infrastructure is complemented with a supplementary fleet of satellites backing up service, has long been spoken of as low Earth orbit's role in urban environments worldwide, where connectivity is plentiful but capable of experiencing outages and network congestion.

In September 2024, Verizon was the first mobile carrier to launch commercially supplemental smartphone connectivity on Skylo’s non-terrestrial satellite offering, and the first carrier to launch a commercial direct-to-device service. Such services are more ubiquitous as emergency messaging and location sharing in the case of disasters, but are projected to extend to voice and video by 2030.

By the end of 2024, Berg Insights estimated that 5.6 million satellite IoT connections existed, with the market expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 41.1 percent, with 32.5 million connections projected by 2029.

Skylo’s non-terrestrial network spans multiple constellations of satellites over 36 countries across 70 million square kilometres (27,027,151 square miles) of coverage. Its design approach, which prioritised the use of existing chipsets, modules, and operating systems, has made the hybrid experiment possible. For their part, Vodafone IoT connects more than 220 million devices in more than 180 countries, with partnerships that span more than 760 networks globally.