Anterix And Lynk Test Satellite-To-Device Links For Utility Networks

NTN Moves Toward Utility Private Networks

Anterix and Lynk Global are testing satellite direct-to-device connectivity with Anterix’s 900 MHz spectrum, shifting the NTN discussion beyond consumer emergency messaging.

The target is utilities and other critical infrastructure operators that need resilient communications when terrestrial networks are unavailable, overloaded or too costly to extend.

The work follows a Federal Communications Commission experimental license that allows Lynk and Anterix to test NTN using Anterix spectrum over Lynk’s satellite network.

Christopher Guttman-McCabe, Anterix’s chief regulatory and corporate communications officer, framed the project as part of the company’s effort to monetize spectrum through a broader services portfolio for utilities.

The test scope is deliberately practical.

Lynk and Anterix are evaluating Land Mobile Radio handsets, smartphones, connected laptops, routers and other edge devices.

The license covers seven sites spread across North Dakota, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Iowa, Arkansas, Oregon and Texas, giving the companies different operating environments rather than a single showcase location.

The 900 MHz Strategy Is Expanding

The satellite tests sit inside a larger Anterix push to make its spectrum more flexible.

In 2020, the FCC realigned the 900 MHz band so it could support narrowband channels and paired 3×3 megahertz broadband.

After an Anterix petition, the FCC later gave the band a broader broadband path by permitting a paired 5×5 megahertz use of all 10 megahertz.

That change matters for private wireless economics.

Anterix announced its first planned 5×5 megahertz deployment with Northwestern Energy in April, and Guttman-McCabe said the company’s last two contracts have also been for 5×5 megahertz deployments.

He expects 5×5 to become the standard deployment model going forward.

The company is also building service layers around the spectrum.

It has closed four contracts so far this calendar year, serves 11 utility customers across 17 states, and points to an ecosystem of more than 150 vendors.

CatalyX, its SIM management service, and TowerX, a Crown Castle tower-access service for utilities, are intended to reduce deployment friction around private wireless networks.

Satellite Connectivity Is A Resilience Add-On

The strongest commercial logic is resilience.

Utilities face rising data-center power demand, more frequent extreme weather, cybersecurity risk and distributed energy systems such as solar panels and batteries.

Those pressures increase the value of communications links that remain available across remote sites, storm-affected areas and critical grid operations.

The NTN tests could add another layer to that private-network model.

Guttman-McCabe said integrating 900 MHz-enabled devices with Lynk satellite capabilities could open a category of private, secure and resilient network services.

The company’s ambition includes electric and gas utilities, logistics companies, transportation providers, pipelines and military bases.

Anterix is not presenting satellite as a replacement for terrestrial private wireless.

The more grounded proposition is a fallback or extension layer that can operate with utility devices and enterprise endpoints where tower coverage is difficult or where continuity is essential.

What The Early Results Still Need To Prove

Anterix has said initial testing has begun, and President and CEO Scott Lang told investors the first results were “terrific.” That is an early signal, not a full commercial proof point.

The tests still need to show which devices work reliably, how the service behaves across different terrain, and whether utilities will pay for NTN as part of a broader private-network package.

The next useful evidence will be more specific than a positive trial update.

Device performance, site conditions, service design and customer commitments will determine whether satellite direct-to-device becomes a real critical-infrastructure product or remains an experimental extension of the private wireless portfolio.