The era of ubiquitous smartphone connectivity has begun with the arrival of satellite SMS services on smartphones, satellite platforms and mobile services, using the new 5G direct-to-satellite technology, part of 3GPP Release 16. The objective is to fill in coverage of remote areas where users quite frequently roam and also provide new sources of revenue for both operators and the satellite providers. Apple has unsurprisingly generated the greatest interest, with support for SMS communication over satellite in the latest iPhone 14, which was announced last week. It announced its Emergency SOS via Satellite service, using Globalstar’s network (see separate item). It was not the first smartphone maker to announced a satellite text service. Huawei beat Apple by just a day…