2026-10-12
2026 is widely regarded as the first year of mass commercialization for direct satellite-to-phone connectivity. All three major Chinese carriers have obtained satellite mobile communication licenses from MIIT, allowing users to connect smartphones to satellite systems for voice and SMS in areas without terrestrial coverage, without changing SIM cards or phone numbers.
Technical verification has advanced rapidly. In June 2026, Yuanxin Satellite completed the first domestic satellite call from an unmodified existing commercial phone, with link quality comparable to terrestrial 5G; the Qianfan DTC01 test satellite and China Mobile 02 satellite were launched the same month to validate broadband direct-to-phone links.
On the consumer side, cumulative sales of satellite-capable phones co-developed by China Telecom with Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor have reached 23-24 million units, and mainstream vendors have launched 37 satellite-capable models. Huawei reports over 60 terminal models with BeiDou satellite messaging, totaling 40 million devices.
In the supply chain, baseband chips and ground equipment are among the first to benefit, and in the first half of 2026 primary-market financing in commercial aerospace reached RMB 12.79 billion, up 273% year on year.
For RF cable makers, direct-to-phone satellite services and dense LEO constellation build-out will continue to drive demand for high-performance RF cables in gateway stations, test systems, and terminal antennas.