ST Engineering iDirect and Capgemini Team Up for Cloud-Native 5G NTN Base Stations
ST Engineering iDirect and Capgemini are collaborating to develop a standards-based 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) satellite base station to accelerate the integration of satellite and terrestrial 5G networks.
At the core of the partnership is a cloud-native NTN gNodeB, built using Capgemini’s 5G gNodeB software stack and integrated into ST Engineering iDirect’s Intuition ground system. The solution has been optimized for satellite environments, addressing challenges such as latency, spectrum efficiency, and regenerative vs. transparent payload architectures, while maintaining native 3GPP access to the 5G core.
The collaboration hopes to enable fully standardized 3GPP 5G access over satellite, rather than proprietary integrations supporting hybrid terrestrial–satellite networks, allowing seamless roaming and service continuity. It will alignswith FR1 and FR2 bands, preparing the platform for higher-capacity and future NTN deployments
The joint solution is being designed to help operators transition smoothly from legacy satcom and non-3GPP systems toward software-defined, cloud-based 5G NTN architectures, while laying groundwork for future 5G-Advanced and 6G evolution.