Over just a few years, the ability to connect everyday cell phones to satellite has gone from a milestone tech demonstration to a feature that&#x27;s deployed in millions of phones. Mindel De La Torre has watched this evolution closely and been a part of the regulatory advancements to make it possible. Formerly chief of the FCC&#x27;s International Bureau, Mindel then led regulatory and international strategy for Omnispace before joining Skylo as head of Global Regulatory Affairs.<br>Mindel joins On Orbit this week to talk about the intersection of spectrum policy, international coordination, and the future of global connectivity. She shares how the regulatory landscape is evolving for D2D, and gives a preview of some upcoming spectrum issues for the WRC-27 conference. From her work in government to startups, Mindel says one through line has been a passion for finding ways to provide service to unserved and underserved communities, which she now gets to see firsthand as D2D expands around the world.

Building a Global Framework for D2D With Skylo's Mindel De La Torre

On Orbit

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** On Orbit

## Transcript

Over just a few years, the ability to connect everyday cell phones to satellites has gone from a milestone tech demonstration to a feature that's deployed in millions of phones. Mindel De La Torre has watched its evolution closely and been part of the regulatory advancements to make it possible. Formerly Chief of the FCC's International Bureau, Mindel then led regulatory and international strategy for Omnispace before joining Skylo as Head of Global Regulatory Affairs.

Mindel joins On Orbit this week to talk about the intersection of spectrum policy, international coordination, and the future of global connectivity. She shares how the regulatory landscape is evolving for direct device and gives a preview of some of the upcoming spectrum issues for Work27. From her work in government to startups, Mindel says that One Through Line has been a passion for finding ways to provide service to unserved and underserved communities, which she now gets to see firsthand as D2D expands around the world.

I'm Rachel Jewett, and you're listening to On Orbit, the podcast that asks, what's our future in space? Hi, Mindel. Thanks for coming on the podcast. I'm excited to have you here today. Hi, Rachel. I'm glad to be here. So this is a great time to talk with you as there's a lot of news in the direct-to-device spectrum area, and there's been so much activity in direct-to-device in recent months.

And Skylo is a company that I followed for many years and have covered. So you joined the company in 2024 after a long career in government. You spent, you know, you were with the FCC as Chief of the International Bureau and also a number of years with Omnispace. So I guess to start out, I would ask, how would you describe how the direct-to-device landscape has evolved just in the time that you've been with Skylo? That's a great question.

You know, when I started at Skylo almost two years ago, there was really no one actually providing D2D service other than Globalstar on iPhones. And, you know, what was going to happen was going to change very quickly. My first day at Skylo, Parth, our CEO, pulled me into a conference room and said, I couldn't tell you all this before you started, but next month Skylo's D2D service is going to be live in all of Pixel 9 phones. And I was blown away, really.

Of course, he hadn't told me that before. So, you know, I had joined the company for the, you know, NB-IoT expansive array of devices and the fact that they were providing service. And it just was, you know, just very, you could just tell it was just a company that was going far. And, you know, but I didn't expect that the service that we were relying on, geostationary satellites, could provide a native D2D service into a regular handheld device.

So that was amazing. And so I realized that this amazing company that I had joined was going to basically defy all engineering naysayers that I had been hearing forever saying, oh,...

Building a Global Framework for D2D With Skylo's Mindel De La Torre

Transcript

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Building a Global Framework for D2D With Skylo's Mindel De La Torre

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.