RCD Bullitt, Skylo, HMD, and Fraunhofer IIS join forces and demonstrate at MWC 2025 ultra-low-bitrate speech codec for groundbreaking non-terrestrial network communication.
While current speech codecs work well for terrestrial 4G/5G voice services, they typically require 13 kbit/s or more to achieve good audio quality. Fraunhofer has applied innovative AI-based technology to a new generation of voice codecs, which reduce these bitrates significantly. Satellite & mobile operators may soon begin to offer reliable NTN voice services with audio quality as good or better than terrestrial calls for the first time.
“Satellite connectivity will soon become a standard feature of phones and in automotive applications with voice services being one of its primary applications,” says Manfred Lutzky, Head of the Audio for Communications Department at Fraunhofer IIS. “Our decades of experience in developing audio and speech codes enabled us to invent this next generation of AI-based voice codecs that make NTN audio messaging and voice calls over satellite possible.”
At Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona (Fraunhofer booth #CS64) and the Satellite Show in Washington D.C. in March 2025, Bullitt, Skylo, HMD and Fraunhofer IIS will demonstrate NTN voice applications.
More information can be found in the LinkedIn post by RCD Bullitt.