Understanding geely’s Geespace gets approval for commercial satellite IoT trial in China
- Geespace’s 64 GeeSAT satellites in orbit provide global coverage excluding the polar regions and process about 340 million communication requests a day.
- Geespace has delivered more than 20,000 in-vehicle satellite communication terminals for mass-produced vehicles.
Geespace, the commercial aerospace arm of Geely Holding Group, has received approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to conduct commercial trials of satellite Internet of Things (IoT) services for 2 years.
The MIIT announced the approval in a notice on its website on Thursday. Geespace has become the second private company to receive such approval, after Beijing Guodian Gaoke Technology.
The move brings IoT operations by private satellite operators into China’s national telecommunications regulatory trial framework. Previously, private companies were mainly involved in satellite launches and constellation deployment.
During the trial period, Geespace will be allowed to operate satellite IoT services on a pilot basis, using the Geely Future Mobility Constellation Phase 1, or GeeSAT 1, to provide wide-coverage, low-power and highly reliable connectivity services, according to the MIIT statement.
Applications include intelligent transportation, marine fisheries, energy and water resources.
Geely Holding said Geespace will continue conducting IoT NTN (Internet of Things Non-Terrestrial Networks) technology trials and advance the development and commercialization of 6G satellite communication technologies.
GeeSAT is independently designed, developed, built and operated by Geespace. Its first phase calls for the deployment of 72 satellites, including 8 backup satellites.
After 12 satellites for its sixth orbital plane were launched on a single rocket in September 2025, the number of satellites in orbit rose to 64, completing the constellation deployment for the first phase.
The satellites operate in low Earth orbit at an altitude of about 600 kilometers, enabling real-time communications coverage anywhere on the Earth’s surface except the North and South Poles.
The system can process about 340 million communication requests a day and support access for 20 million users worldwide, Geely Holding said.
Satellite IoT uses satellite communication systems for low-data-rate transmission, mainly to upload location information and small amounts of data collected by sensors. It does not support conventional internet access. Its value lies in providing coverage in areas beyond the reach of terrestrial networks.
In vehicles, Geespace has delivered more than 20,000 mass-produced satellite communication terminals. Models including the Geely Galaxy Starshine 8, Geely Galaxy E8, Lynk & Co 900, Zeekr 001 FR and Zeekr 009 Grand are equipped with satellite communication technology.
Geely Holding’s ride-hailing unit Cao Cao Mobility will also explore the use of GeeSAT in its robotaxi fleet operations to keep vehicles connected with control centers for remote monitoring, dispatching and emergency intervention.
Commercial deployment has already begun in maritime applications. The company’s low-Earth-orbit satellite equipment has been put into use on maritime law-enforcement vessels in Zhejiang province, while Taizhou is installing the equipment on an initial batch of 60 fishing vessels.
Overseas, Geespace has established partnerships with telecommunications operators in more than 20 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America, and has secured orders in the Middle East and South America.
In January, Geespace signed a cooperation agreement with Pakistan’s state-owned satellite communications operator Paksat International (Pvt) Limited.
The MIIT said satellite IoT will serve as an important complement to China’s broadband satellite internet services.
The approval represents a further opening of the sector to private companies and is expected to help stimulate private-sector activity and support the development of commercial aerospace, the MIIT said.
($1 = 6.7808 yuan)
