• Backed by the European Innovation Council, the project demonstrates Europe’s first 5G Non-Terrestrial Network in low Earth orbit, sending alerts to unmodified phones.
• The initiative advances digital sovereignty, supports public safety and job creation, and aligns with EU policies and green goals.
What happened: OQ Technology gains EIC backing
OQ Technology, a Luxembourg‑based satellite 5G operator, launches the 5NETSAT mission with support from a €2.5m grant awarded under the EIC Accelerator programmer by the European Innovation Council. The company also gains equity investment from the EIC Fund, underlining confidence in its path to become the region’s first commercial Direct‑to‑Mobile (D2M) satellite operator. The project will perform Europe’s first service demonstration of a 5G Non‑Terrestrial Network (NTN) in low Earth orbit (LEO), delivering emergency SMS and broadcast alerts direct to standard 5G smartphones using IMT spectrum without any hardware or software changes . Founder and CEO Omar Qaise calls 5NETSAT “technically viable but scalable, sustainable, and lifesaving”.
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Why it’s important
The mission opens a new path in secure space-based communication and it enables seamless alerts to unmodified devices, and this makes adoption faster across civilian and government sectors and it also supports stronger public safety systems. The project follows European policy goals like IRIS², The Digital Decade and the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, and it also supports several UN Sustainable Development Goals with better disaster resilience, more innovation and greener connectivity.
Socially, inclusion for people in remote or underserved areas improves when satellite coverage fills the gaps, and economically the project creates high-value jobs in the space and telecom sectors and it also opens new commercial chances in mobile-satellite convergence. Environmentally, it lowers reliance on ground infrastructure and it supports greener networking, and politically the venture strengthens EU digital sovereignty during geopolitical tensions around critical infrastructure. The earlier work of OQ Technology with eight missions in three years gives credibility to its capability.
