On April 28, Spain experienced one of the most extensive power outages in recent memory. Millions of citizens and businesses were suddenly cut off, revealing how unprepared even developed nations are for widespread infrastructure failures. While the cause of the blackout is still under investigation, the consequences were immediate: hospitals operated under emergency protocols, transportation systems halted and telecommunications faltered. This moment has reignited an urgent debate — not about the speed of our networks, but about their resilience.
Terrestrial networks aren’t enough anymore
For years, experts have warned of the fragility of terrestrial communications. Natural disasters, cyberattacks, or cascading grid failures can bring mobile towers, data centers and fiber lines crashing down within minutes, even seconds, as in the Spanish case. During such failures, essential services — from emergency response to industrial logistics — risk coming to a standstill.
Satellite technology offers a lifeline; a safeguard from space. Its greatest strength lies in its physical independence from terrestrial infrastructure. When cities are in the dark, satellites remain unaffected, orbiting above the chaos and ready to relay data.
If Spain relied on satellite-enabled fallback, continuity could have been preserved during April’s blackout. This isn’t about replacing terrestrial networks, but about complementing them. The future is hybrid: resilient systems that switch automatically between land and space without human intervention.
Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations can make this hybrid model possible. At Sateliot, we’ve innovated with native interoperability, allowing standard IoT devices to seamlessly connect to either terrestrial 5G networks or satellite coverage, without any hardware changes. This approach is central to our mission of enabling massive IoT connectivity at a global scale.
But satellite constellations don’t all operate the same way. Delivering broadband to consumer terminals demands one type of architecture. Connecting billions of low-power IoT devices requires another approach.
Many satellite operators rely on single-country gateways, creating vulnerabilities if local infrastructure fails. A more resilient strategy is a geographically distributed ground network and redundant cloud services, ensuring global coverage and avoiding dependence on any single jurisdiction.
For this, we’ve developed a new approach called “store-and-forward” — satellites temporarily store IoT data and downlink it when in range of a ground station. This method reinforces network redundancy and ensures data delivery even without continuous ground contact.
When power fails, batteries take over
Another critical advantage of satellite-enabled IoT is energy independence. Most IoT devices are battery-powered, designed to operate autonomously for years without relying on external electricity or manual maintenance. Today, these devices are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life: they manage irrigation on remote farms, track cargo across global supply chains, monitor air quality in cities, control traffic lights and support smart utility grids. In a blackout scenario, their ability to function independently ensures the continuity of operations, even when terrestrial infrastructure goes offline.
This battery-backed autonomy, combined with automatic satellite fallback, creates a communications layer that is not only redundant but self-sustaining — a critical feature for any modern disaster preparedness strategy.
And we are only at the beginning. Although mobile phones compatible with the NB-IoT NTN protocol — defined by 3GPP Release 17 — have started to appear on the market, they are still not widely adopted. In the near future, these devices will enable satellite-based voice and text messaging, allowing users to stay connected even when terrestrial networks are unavailable. This advancement will significantly enhance public safety by ensuring that isolated individuals and emergency responders can maintain communication when it is needed most.
What’s missing?
Despite technical readiness, there is still no clear framework for automatic fallback to satellite connectivity. We need well-defined policies that specify when and how satellite networks should be activated during disruptions, supported by trigger protocols that ensure fallback mechanisms engage seamlessly — without human intervention or bureaucratic delays.
However, policies alone are not enough. True resilience requires active public-private collaboration. Governments, regulators, network operators and satellite providers must work together to embed these solutions into national connectivity strategies. A key step in this process is the establishment of interoperability standards, ensuring that terrestrial and satellite networks operate as a cohesive, reliable system in times of crisis.
What Spain experienced on April 28th was a wake-up call. Let’s not waste it.
Jaume Sanpera, CEO of Sateliot, brings nearly 30 years of experience in telecommunications and is a renowned tech entrepreneur in Spain. He has founded several companies, including Eurona and Ambientum, both of which have achieved significant international success.
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