GSA's latest satellite connectivity review puts African mobile operators at the centre of the next direct-to-device rollout wave, with 32 D2D partnerships already announced on the continent.

The industry group said operators in 18 countries have launched satellite D2D services, while African carriers are preparing commercial services that extend coverage beyond terrestrial mobile networks.

GSA Counts 32 African Direct-To-Device Partnerships

The Global mobile Suppliers Association review said Africa's mobile operators are pairing with satellite providers to offer D2D services outside normal network reach.

The disclosed partnerships include Airlink with Starlink across 14 markets, AST SpaceMobile with Axian Telecom across 11 African markets and Vodacom, and Lynk trials with MTN in Ghana and South Africa.

Joe Gardiner, a CCS Insight market analyst and member of the GSA research team, said during a webinar that operators in 18 countries have now launched satellite D2D services.

He described the technology as global, while also saying it remains early in its deployment cycle.

Starlink Leads Partnership Count As Operators Use Multiple Vendors

The GSA review listed Starlink with 99 D2D partnerships, followed by AST SpaceMobile with 44, Amazon Leo with 30, Eutelsat Group with 29, Lynk with 21, SES Group with 19 and Skylo with 10.

The same list included Omnispace with five, Hughes and Viasat Group with four each, OQ Technology and Sateliot with three each, and Iridium, Rassvet and Tiantong with two each.

The partnership pattern is not limited to one satellite architecture.

GSA's review said many operators are pursuing a multivendor approach, with Orange cited as an example because it has D2D ties with Skylo in France, AST SpaceMobile, Satellite Connect Europe and Starlink, as well as links with Eutelsat and OneWeb, Intelsat and Telesat.

MSS Spectrum And Device Support Remain Deployment Limits

Gardiner noted that most current partnerships initially use terrestrial mobile-operator spectrum, including T-Mobile's Starlink arrangement in the United States.

He also pointed to rising interest in mobile satellite services spectrum because MSS can support a 3GPP-compatible and globally harmonised D2D model.

GSA said its review counted 46 MSS-compatible devices, while noting that not all of them are technology neutral.

That leaves handset support, spectrum model, roaming and interoperability as practical constraints for operators that want D2D service to work across satellite constellations rather than inside one vendor's ecosystem.

GSA's update did not identify launch dates for the 32 African partnerships, commercial tariffs, supported handset lists or confirmed roaming terms for multivendor D2D satellite services.