Tata subsidiary Nelco has invested in US firm Elveo Mobile to bring direct-to-device and IoT connectivity to south Asian markets.

The collaboration aims to expand access to Elveo’s network for enterprises and customers in India and internationally.

Nelco, a Tata Group company and one of India’s leading satellite communication service providers, has announced a partnership and investment in Lunar Holdco, doing business as Elveo Mobile, a company that delivers global direct-to-device (D2D) satellite mobile connectivity and elevated intelligence.

Nelco will bring connectivity and compute directly from Elveo’s satellites in space to varied sectors, including automotive, maritime, energy and government in India and south Asian markets. Nelco will work with enterprises in all segments to integrate Elveo connectivity across its various platforms. With real-time connectivity and compute capabilities, Nelco and Elveo will enable universal communications and close the coverage gap for wide ranging enterprise-grade offerings, including automotive telematics, fleet and asset tracking, infrastructure monitoring remote operations, disaster response and business continuity.

“D2D is the next growth wave for the satcom market globally and Nelco is embarking on it,” said PJ Nath, CEO of Nelco. “Elveo’s advanced network design opens up seamless coverage and new market opportunities for us in India, as well as south Asian countries and worldwide for some of the enterprise segments. We’re particularly impressed by Elveo’s satellite technology including its advanced on-board processing designed to adapt, iterate and scale with evolving customer needs.”

Ramu Potarazu, CEO of Elveo, added: “Nelco is further demonstrating its commitment to innovation by adopting next-generation capabilities like D2D and IoT connectivity for its customers’ emerging requirements. This collaboration also expands our reliable, adaptable and intelligent communications into new enterprise markets including automotive, telecom, infrastructure and other mission-critical sectors. We look forward to not only serving the Indian market through Nelco but also partnering with the broader Tata Group companies across the globe.”

Nelco (www.nelco.in), part of the $185bn Tata Group (www.tata.com), is a satellite communication service provider in India, providing reliable connectivity across the country.

Lunar Holdco, doing business as Elveo Mobile (www.elveo.com), is a Delaware-based satellite communications company focused on developing a global S-band NGSO satellite network designed to support D2D. It offers connectivity directly from satellites to smartphones, IoT devices and machines worldwide. Elveo Mobile was formed by the merger of Lynx and Omnispace.