ESA and GSMA Foundry launch a challenge for 5G/6G and space connectivity
The European Space Agency and the mobile industry’s joint innovation platform, GSMA Foundry, have launched a call for ideas offering up to €100 million in funding for projects that integrate satellite communications with terrestrial mobile networks.
This new funding opportunity – likely to be of strong interest to Finnish stakeholders as well – was announced today at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona. The call is open to companies in ESA Member States and aims to help bridge the digital divide.
The call focuses on four themes:
AI in Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) – using artificial intelligence to optimise connectivity between satellites in different orbits and terrestrial networks.
Direct-to-Device (D2D) – enabling direct satellite connectivity to mobile phones without ground infrastructure, particularly for remote areas and emergency services.
5G/6G Hubs – hybrid network test centres for new use cases.
6G Innovation – developing faster and smarter connectivity for the future.
Selected projects will receive funding, collaboration opportunities, and visibility at major industry events.
In the future, terrestrial networks will extend into space, with the same 5G/6G technologies also used for satellite communications. Finland has a long history and strong expertise in mobile networks, and Finnish companies and research institutes are well positioned to help expand networks into space.
A Finnish satellite was also the first to demonstrate data transmission between a ground station and a satellite using the 75 GHz frequency in the so-called E-band, one of the frequencies used in 5G and 6G networks. The W-Cube satellite was built by Kuva Space, and its radio payload was developed by VTT’s Millilab.
In France, a project called U DESERVE 5G is already underway, in which the French national space agency CNES is studying the same topic together with the space company Thales Alenia Space, its parent company Thales, as well as Capgemini, Orange, SES, Qualcomm and Loft Orbital.
The aim is, among other things, to launch a significantly larger and more versatile research satellite than W-Cube. The satellite is shown in the article’s main image.