Lynk Global missed a launch of a phone connectivity service scheduled to happen in April, the second delay in its plan, one which comes as the company faces increased competition from a host of players in the sector.

The company originally targeted a launch in December 2022, but CEO Charles Miller previously told Mobile World Live this was postponed several times due to delays and high traffic on SpaceX’s rockets.

It launched two satellites earlier this year to bring its total to three. The US Federal Communications Commission has cleared the company to operate ten low Earth orbit birds.

Miller told MWL the company has operators that want to begin initial service with the three satellites already in orbit, and “we are moving towards a service launch soon”.

He stated Lynk Global plans to launch three additional birds in October, six in January and then “aggressively ramp up production in 2024”.

Caleb Henry, director of research for satellite and space financial research company Quilty Analytics, told MWL it was his understanding Lynk Global was planning a launch using SpaceX this month or next, depending on securing additional funding.

SpaceNews reported the company was in negotiations with four investors, and separately it was seeking funding to launch its next three birds.

Henry said more cash will be needed for Lynk Global to reach a goal of deploying 100 satellites, but noted it is finding this “hard to obtain compared to competitors AST SpaceMobile and SpaceX, despite being one of the first to prove out direct-to-device technology”.

Lynk Global patented technology in 2017 and started commercial testing in space in 2019. Its service is designed to work on 2G, 4G and 5G technologies.