By Shravan K Gaddam, VP Engineering, CTO Office, ST Engineering iDirect
Interest in 5G NTN is accelerating amongst most telecom and satellite operators. The technology’s potential is increasingly clear, but so are the practical questions: can it be deployed without adding cost, complexity or risk to networks that are already under pressure to scale, modernize and deliver new services?
There is still plenty of noise around what 5G NTN promises. Seamless coverage, global mobility, integration with existing terrestrial networks and new enterprise revenue streams. But telecom operators are not short on ambition. What they are looking for is a practical path to integration, one that fits within an existing 5G core, supports commercial timelines and delivers a clear return on investment.
That shift is already visible. At industry conferences, the conversation around 5G NTN moved away from future potential and towards integration, deployment and commercial viability, reflecting how quickly the industry is moving from experimentation to execution. Most telecom operators already expect it to play a bigger role over the next five years. What matters now is how it fits.
Integration, not expansion
Historically, satellites have been primarily positioned to extend terrestrial coverage. That’s still true, but it’s not what telecom operators are focused on. They don’t want another network. They want satellite to behave like it’s a part of the one they already have.
That means integrating with the 5G core. Reusing existing functions such as authentication, billing and policy control. Delivering a consistent service, regardless of whether connectivity is terrestrial or satellite. If 5G NTN feels like a separate network, it hasn’t been implemented properly.
This is what’s driving the shift towards more unified architectures. Running siloed systems with different operational models doesn’t scale, particularly as networks become more complex. Fragmentation is quickly becoming a liability.
What telecom operators are actually looking for
The drivers behind 5G NTN adoption are practical. Recent research from ST Engineering iDirect, based on a survey of 350 senior telecom decision-makers globally, shows that 93% expect satellite to play a bigger role in their networks, with 88% planning to increase investment over the next five years. Around 94% already classify satellite as essential or important to their network strategy.
That level of alignment is telling us that this is no longer exploratory. Telecom operators are actively planning for satellite to become part of their network architecture, with 85% also highlighting the importance of partnerships with satellite providers to make that happen.
Extending terrestrial networks into low-density or remote areas remains expensive and, in many cases, hard to justify commercially. 5G NTN changes that equation, but only if it simplifies deployment rather than adding another layer of complexity.
Resilience is becoming just as important. Not just as a fallback, but as something designed into the network from the outset, with multiple connectivity paths available as part of normal operation.
These are not future use cases. They are problems operators are dealing with now.
From theory to deployment
While commercial 5G NTN deployments are ahead of us (though not too far away), the trials and demonstrations underway are already shaping priorities. The focus isn’t on the most advanced use cases. It’s on the ones that solve real problems.
Resilience for critical infrastructure is one of the clearest. Energy networks, financial systems and public services all rely on connectivity that can’t fail.
Mobility is another. Satellite already plays a role here, but 5G NTN brings the potential for a more consistent experience across networks.
Enterprise connectivity follows a similar pattern. For industries operating in remote or hard-to-reach locations, 5G NTN provides a practical way to extend coverage without major infrastructure buildout.
But there is another more profoundly important milestone that 5G NTN achieves: Integrating satellite and terrestrial networks into a unified architectural standard. This is a defining moment in the industry that has never happened before. It brings significant operational and infrastructure efficiencies to telecom operators that have traditionally run two disparate networks when incorporating satellite connectivity into their suite of services.
What links these use cases is straightforward. They work because they are needed.
Making hybrid networks work
For 5G NTN, both coverage and integration matter equally. With dedicated 5G NTN satellite infrastructure still being developed, the question of how well the technology integrates with terrestrial networks is just as important as when that coverage arrives.
Hybrid roaming will be central to this as devices need to move between terrestrial and satellite networks without disruption, and over time, across different satellite providers as well.
Recent demonstrations by ST Engineering iDirect have shown that satellite networks can integrate with the 5G core as fully 3GPP-compliant systems, operating as an extension of existing networks rather than alongside them.
This reflects a broader shift across the industry, where vendors and operators are focused on making satellite part of the core network, not a separate layer.
Just as importantly, this doesn’t require a full reset. Telecom operators can start by integrating existing satellite capabilities into the 5G core, then move towards native 5G NTN over time. Existing infrastructure and waveform technologies can be retained, allowing modernization without disrupting current services or investment models.
That ability to evolve incrementally is what makes adoption realistic.
Standards, scale and what comes next
Progress will depend on how the ecosystem moves.
3GPP standards, particularly from Release 17 through to Release 18 and beyond, are laying the groundwork for integration. They reduce complexity, support interoperability and allow operators to build without locking themselves into a single approach.
At the same time, ground infrastructure is changing. Cloud-native systems and more unified network management are making it easier to operate across multiple layers without increasing overhead.
Operators are also gaining better visibility into network performance, with more advanced analytics helping them anticipate and resolve issues earlier. Work is also underway to reduce reliance on external positioning systems such as GNSS, improving resilience in environments where those signals may be unavailable or compromised.
There is still work to do. Latency, Doppler effects and mobility management remain challenges. But the direction is clear. 5G NTN is moving from concept to deployment, with standards, infrastructure and commercial models starting to align.
A simpler end state
The end goal isn’t complicated. Telecom operators are looking for a single network with multiple access layers and consistent performance.
Over the next few years, the focus will shift towards execution and scaling hybrid networks, refining interoperability and turning early deployments into repeatable models.
At that point, the distinction between terrestrial and non-terrestrial starts to matter less. What matters is that connectivity works, wherever it’s needed.
The operators that get there first will be the ones pursuing both coverage and seamless integration in parallel.