OQ Technology's EIC Accelerator Puts 5G on Ordinary Phones

Satellite phones have always needed special hardware. OQ Technology, founded in Luxembourg and based in Leudelange, builds its network on the same 3GPP standards that terrestrial mobile networks use, narrowband IoT and 5G New Radio adapted for non-terrestrial networks, so, the company says, an unmodified smartphone or an off-the-shelf IoT module can connect to a satellite in low orbit. It holds 60MHz of mobile satellite service S-band spectrum rights and says it was the first satellite operator to demonstrate a cellular IoT connection from space, in 2019.

The EIC Accelerator selected the project, 5NETSAT, at its October 2024 cut-off for blended finance, and CORDIS records a grant of €2,499,999 from July 2025 to February 2027 for an in-orbit demonstration of SMS and emergency services to smartphones over a European 5G non-terrestrial network. The project describes eight successful missions in three years and a team of 30 people from 14 nationalities.

Ten satellites up, 36 to go

On 24 February 2026 the European Investment Bank signed €25 million of venture debt with OQ Technology under the InvestEU guarantee, the bank announced. The money covers research and development, and the acquisition, insurance and launch of 22 software-defined multi-band satellites, plus hosted payloads on 14 further satellites owned by third parties, to complete the company's initial constellation. The EIB describes OQ as the first in Europe to operate a low-orbit constellation dedicated to direct-to-device services, and credits it with the first European demonstration of a direct-to-device emergency broadcast to unmodified smartphones, in 2025.

Ten satellites are in orbit, according to the company's own team page: eight TIGER satellites, MACSAT, and the two ERMIS satellites launched on SpaceX's Transporter-16 mission in March 2026. CEO Omar Qaise called the EIB financing "a strong vote of confidence in our vision and our technology"; European commissioner for defence and space Andrius Kubilius used the deal to argue that the EU's space strategy depends on access to risk finance.

Partners instead of press releases about revenue

What OQ publishes is a steady run of partnerships and demonstrations rather than customer numbers. In December 2025 it connected a standard Nordic Semiconductor narrowband IoT module to its satellite network. In January 2026 it announced integration deals with the connectivity providers Eseye and Monogoto. In April it was selected by the European Space Agency for BEAMSAT-5G, on beamforming for next-generation satellite networks, and in March it won the ESA and GSMA Foundry excellence award for direct-to-device connectivity.

In June 2026 it announced a demonstration with Telefónica Germany, described as the first direct-to-device satellite communications demonstration using terrestrial mobile spectrum in a sovereign European approach, and a first European drone video transmission over a 3GPP non-terrestrial network in MSS S-band. It also has a partnership with LUXUAV for drone and defence applications, an Aramco use case on its website, and two Australian wins in late 2026: a smart forest monitoring project and selection for Western Australia's Defence Forge programme for sovereign direct-to-device capability.

1. Standards-based link from spaceDemonstratedCellular IoT from space in 2019; NB-IoT module link in 2025.
2. Direct-to-device to unmodified phonesDemonstratedEmergency broadcast in 2025, per the EIB.
3. In-orbit demonstration of SMS and emergency servicesIn progressThe EIC project's own deliverable; no result published.
4. Initial constellation completeFunded10 of 46 satellites in orbit; the rest financed in 2026.

Two EU instruments, one company

OQ Technology is a case of the EU's instruments stacking: a €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant for the demonstration, then €25 million of EIB venture debt under InvestEU for the hardware. The EIC award was blended finance and no EIC Fund equity investment has been announced. The EIB release does not disclose customers, revenue or the total cost of the satellite programme, and the company does not publish them either.

The business model on the website is wholesale and enterprise: connectivity for energy and utilities, maritime, mining, logistics, agriculture, security and government and defence, sold both directly and through telecom operators.

Sovereign connectivity, in the EU's words

Direct-to-device is being built mostly by American companies, and OQ's pitch leans hard on being the European alternative, with 3GPP compliance and no vendor lock-in as the technical argument and sovereignty as the political one. The Telefónica Germany demonstration was explicitly framed as a sovereign European approach using terrestrial spectrum, and both the EIC grant and the EIB loan were presented in those terms by the Commission and the bank. Luxembourg's economy minister used the deal to claim credit for the country's space sector.