At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lacuna Space invited global partners to join its collaborative LoneWhisper D2D constellation.

The UK satellite innovator is opening its operational LoneWhisper direct-to-device (D2D) IoT technology to collaborators worldwide, giving operators and national partners the opportunity to deploy Lacuna’s technology on their own satellites and to work together in a federated network.

Instead of building a constellation from scratch, partners can now plug into one that already works, reducing risk and time to market.

“This is how we fast-track the future of direct-to-device connectivity, through partnership and shared capability,” said Rob Spurrett, CEO of Lacuna Space (lacuna-space.com). “By hosting our flight-proven LoneWhisper gateway payloads on their own spacecraft, partners can immediately integrate into a mature, global network purpose-built for low-power IoT services.”

Large parts of the planet remain beyond the reach of cellular networks, yet sensors monitoring agriculture, forestry, water systems, logistics assets and critical infrastructure need to communicate continuously. Satellite IoT solves that, but historically at high cost and complexity. Lacuna says its approach changes the equation.

The LoneWhisper technology allows standard LoRa-enabled devices to transmit data directly to satellites from anywhere on Earth, from remote farmland and offshore wind farms to mountain infrastructure and ocean-going vessels. No terrestrial coverage is required.

Following almost ten years of development and a €20m investment, Lacuna Space has refined LoneWhisper. The platform combines provisioning with a global ground-based message broker, enabling reliable message routing between devices and applications no matter which operator’s satellites are in view.

Now, the company is opening this capability for broader adoption. Partners can host Lacuna’s IoT gateway payloads on their own spacecraft and connect directly into the shared Lacuna network: a collaborative, open architecture designed to strengthen as participants come on board.

“Lacuna has created a unique opportunity for partners to scale IoT services globally, delivering real satellite connectivity without the time, cost and complexity of building from scratch,” said Olivier Beaujard, LoRa Alliance board chair and senior director at Semtech (www.semtech.com). “This is exactly the kind of ecosystem innovation that demonstrates what LoRa technology makes possible at a global scale.”

Every satellite added increases worldwide coverage. Through shared access to Lacuna’s operational constellation, partners gain immediate expansion of their connectivity footprint, with each network effectively enhancing the reach of the others, similar to the way mobile roaming extends service across operators.

Partners can host Lacuna gateway payloads on their own spacecraft, roam immediately on the existing Lacuna network and expand global coverage collaboratively.

The Lacuna network is operational now. Multiple payloads have been launched with 100% success. More than four million messages have been delivered, and there are active users in agriculture, environmental monitoring, logistics and infrastructure. Partners can gain instant access to a mature system, allowing them to leverage proven technology while prioritising their own market.

Users can begin IoT services now by roaming on Lacuna’s network before their own satellites are deployed. They can use LoneWhisper gateway technology and software without building from scratch. It is built on open LoRaWan standards, ensuring interoperability and long-term sustainability and proven in orbit over almost a decade of development and trials.

“Lacuna Space exemplifies how satellite LoRaWan can transform connectivity at a global scale,” said Alper Yegin, CEO of the LoRa Alliance (lora-alliance.org). “And this collaborative approach to building a satellite IoT constellation aligns with our mission to grow an open, interoperable IoT ecosystem that can really have an impact and bridge gaps on Earth.”

By combining massive message-handling capacity with an open partnership model, the company says it is transforming D2D connectivity from a niche concept into deployable infrastructure.

For partnership enquiries and technical documentation, visit lacuna-space.com/satellite-partnerships/.