China's top industry regulator has once again authorized a commercial trial for satellite-based Internet of Things services, this time granting approval to a private enterprise. This marks another significant step in opening up the satellite IoT sector to non-state-owned players.

Zhejiang Spaceway Technology Co., Ltd., the newly approved company, has received the green light to conduct commercial trials for a duration of two years. This latest approval follows a previous one granted to Beijing Guodiang Technology Co., Ltd., making Spaceway the second private firm to secure such a license for satellite IoT commercial testing.

During the trial phase, Spaceway is permitted to pilot satellite IoT services legally, leveraging the "Geely Future Travel Constellation (Phase I)" to deliver IoT connectivity solutions characterized by wide coverage, low power consumption, and high reliability. The services are designed to enable all-weather, intelligent data collection and remote interaction across sectors such as smart transportation, marine fisheries, and energy and water management.

Why this matters for the broader industry

As the commercialization of China's satellite communications industry accelerates, satellite IoT is poised to become a vital complement to broadband satellite internet. Organizing these commercial trials is instrumental in fostering scale effects within the satellite IoT sector. It also plays a key role in energizing private enterprise and bolstering the growth of the commercial space industry.

Satellite IoT operates through a "space-ground integrated" network architecture, relying on satellite communication systems for low-rate data transmission. This technology is primarily used for uploading location information and small data volumes collected by sensors, and it does not support conventional internet browsing. Its core advantage lies in achieving global signal coverage, enabling sensors, vehicles, ships, and equipment located in areas without terrestrial network signals to transmit data seamlessly.

Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has sequentially approved commercial trials for both Beijing Guodiang Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Spaceway Technology Co., Ltd., signaling a clear policy direction toward expanding private sector participation in this cutting-edge field.