ST ENGINEERING IDIRECT
TELCO CLOUD AND VIRTUALISATION
ST ENGINEERING IDIRECT
HEADQUARTERS: SINGAPORE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 27,000 MARKET CAP: US $ 20BN NUMBER OF COUNTRIES: 100
The critical imperative of standardisation The realisation of the immense potential of 5G NTN will only occur when the industry collectively embraces standardisation. Historically, the characterisation of the satcom sector was through proprietary hardware and software.
While effective, the approach created fragmentation, making integration between different systems complex, costly and slow, a significant hurdle in highly regulated and hardware-intensive sectors like aviation.
Standardisation, as championed by 3GPP, provides the common language necessary for disparate systems to communicate fluently. It democratises the technology, reducing vendor lock-in and fostering a more competitive and innovative marketplace. Sridhar highlights how standardisation directly empowers operators.“ 5G NTN is redefining what’ s possible for telecom operators by removing traditional infrastructure
barriers,” he notes.“ Features like network slicing enable tailored, highperformance services for use cases such as enterprise broadband and mobility, but IoT and public safety.”
The standardised approach streamlines billing, roaming and network management across both terrestrial and non-terrestrial domains. It paves the way for true interoperability, not just within the 3GPP framework but with non-3GPP satcom systems, creating a scalable, integrated global network that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
102 August 2025