Thuraya Satellite Phones

9 results

Thuraya Satellite Phones 9 results

If your work happens between Dakar and Jakarta, Thuraya is usually the sensible answer. It is a regional network rather than a global one, and that is the point: by concentrating on Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, it delivers satellite calling at prices well below the global networks, on handsets that behave much more like ordinary phones.

Thuraya is the network of choice for NGO deployments across the Sahel, energy and mining crews in the Gulf, journalists working where the local network cannot be trusted, and overland travellers crossing Central Asia. What it is not suited to is an ocean crossing, a polar expedition, or anything in the Americas. For those, see Iridium.

Satmodo carries the full Thuraya range: the entry-level XT-LITE, the rugged XT and XT-PRO, the smartphone-style SKYPHONE, the Android-based X5-Touch, both SatSleeve adapters that turn your own phone into a satellite phone, and an indoor repeater for buildings and vessels.

Thuraya no longer covers Australia

This is worth stating plainly, because a lot of published material still says otherwise. The Thuraya-3 satellite suffered a permanent payload failure in April 2024 and service to Australia has ended for good. It cannot be restored by reconfiguring another satellite in the fleet. If you are travelling to Australia or anywhere in the Pacific, you need an Iridium or Inmarsat handset instead, and we would rather tell you now than sell you the wrong phone.

How the Thuraya network works

Thuraya uses geostationary satellites, which sit 22,000 miles above the equator and turn at the same rate as the Earth, so each one stays fixed over the same patch of ground. One satellite can therefore cover roughly a third of the planet on its own, and your handset always points at the same spot in the sky rather than tracking a spacecraft crossing overhead.

That architecture explains both of Thuraya's characteristics. Coverage is enormous but fixed, so a region is either served or it is not, with no in-between. And because the satellite never moves relative to you, a handset can use a simpler antenna and a bigger battery, which is why Thuraya handsets get talk times the low-earth-orbit networks cannot match.

The flip side is elevation angle. The further north or south you go from the equator, the lower the satellite sits on the horizon, so hills and buildings block it more easily. In northern Europe you will want to be genuinely in the open rather than in a narrow street.

The fleet, and why the coverage map changed

Thuraya-2

Still in service. After the 2024 failure it was repositioned to restore coverage to Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, western Malaysia, western Indonesia, Singapore and most of China.

Thuraya-3

Suffered a permanent payload failure in April 2024. This is the satellite that carried Australia and much of the eastern Asia-Pacific. Those areas were not recoverable.

Thuraya-4

Entered service in November 2025, covering Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Africa. It is the newest capacity in the fleet.

Where Thuraya works

Covered. Europe including the Nordics, the whole of Africa, the Gulf and wider Middle East, Turkey, Central Asia, India and South Asia, most of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, western Malaysia and western Indonesia.

Not covered. The Americas, Australia, the Pacific, and both polar regions. Also large parts of the open Atlantic and Indian Ocean away from the covered landmasses.

Model picker

Which Thuraya handset should you buy?

Eight products, and the choice is genuinely straightforward once you know which of three things you want: the cheapest way to make a satellite call, the toughest handset on the network, or a satellite phone that works like a smartphone.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Product	Best for	Interface	Dual-mode GSM	Emergency button	Notable
Handsets
Thuraya XT-LITE	The lowest-cost way onto the network	Keypad, colour display	No	No	Voice and SMS only. The right choice if you want a satellite phone and nothing else.
Thuraya XT	Rugged everyday use	Keypad, colour display	Yes	Yes	The hardened workhorse of the range.
Thuraya XT-PRO	Hard use with the longest endurance	Keypad, colour display	Yes	Yes, dedicated SOS	The most durable handset Thuraya makes, with the largest battery.
Thuraya XT-PRO Dual	Two SIMs, one handset	Keypad, colour display	Yes, dual SIM	Yes, dedicated SOS	Satellite and GSM live at the same time.
Thuraya SKYPHONE	Everyday calling in a familiar form	Smartphone-style handset	Yes	Yes	Modern handset design without the full Android platform.
Thuraya X5-Touch	Field teams who need apps and data	Android 7.1.2 with Google Play	Yes, dual SIM	Yes, dedicated	Up to 11 hours talk, 100 hours standby, IP67 and MIL-STD 810G.
Use your own phone
Thuraya SatSleeve Hotspot	Travellers who want one device, not two	Your smartphone, over Wi-Fi	Falls back to your normal SIM	Yes, dedicated button	Creates a Wi-Fi link so your own phone makes satellite calls using its own contacts.
Thuraya SatSleeve+	The docking version of the same idea	Your smartphone, docked in an adapter	Falls back to your normal SIM	Yes, dedicated button	Universal adapter for most smartphone sizes.
Infrastructure
Thuraya Indoor Repeater	Offices, camps and vessels	Fixed installation	Not applicable	Via the handset	Multi-channel. Brings Thuraya signal inside a building so handsets work at a desk.

Battery and ingress figures are shown only where Thuraya publishes them for that exact model. Remaining rows are filled from Thuraya's own datasheets during content build, or dropped rather than guessed.

Dual-mode: the feature that saves the most money

Most Thuraya handsets take two SIM cards, one for the satellite network and one for an ordinary GSM network. When the phone can see a mobile network it uses it, at normal mobile rates. When it cannot, it falls back to the satellite.

For anyone moving between cities and remote sites, this is the single biggest cost saver on the network. You are not burning satellite minutes in a hotel car park just because the phone in your hand happens to be a satellite phone. It also means one number and one device for the whole trip, instead of swapping handsets at the edge of coverage.

The XT-LITE is the exception. It is satellite only, which is part of why it costs the least.

SatSleeve: your own phone, on satellite

The SatSleeve takes a different approach. Instead of giving you a second handset, it puts a satellite transceiver in your bag and connects your existing smartphone to it. The Hotspot version links over Wi-Fi so the sleeve can stay in a window or on a roof rack while you sit inside. The SatSleeve+ docks the phone directly in a universal adapter.

Either way you make and receive satellite calls from your own phone, with your own contacts, using an app. Both carry a dedicated SOS button that works even without a phone attached.

It suits travellers who resent carrying two phones, and teams who want satellite backup without retraining anyone on unfamiliar hardware.

Thuraya airtime and prepaid units

Thuraya airtime is sold in units rather than straight minutes, in bundles from 20 units up to 1,000. Units are consumed at different rates depending on whether you are making a voice call, sending an SMS or moving data, and the per-unit rate improves as the bundle gets larger. Prepaid suits most buyers on this network, because the typical Thuraya user is deploying for a defined period rather than calling every day of the year.

Thuraya compared with Iridium and Inmarsat

The honest summary: inside its footprint Thuraya is the best value of the three, and outside its footprint it does not work at all.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

	Thuraya	Iridium	Inmarsat
Coverage	Europe, Africa, Middle East, Central and much of Asia	The entire planet, poles included	Near-global, no polar service
Orbit	Geostationary	Low earth orbit	Geostationary
Works mid-ocean	Only within the regional footprint	Yes, anywhere	Yes, outside the polar caps
Works in Australia	No, service ended in 2024	Yes	Yes
Works in the Americas	No	Yes	Yes
Dual-mode GSM handsets	Yes, on most models	No	No
Smartphone platform	Yes, the X5-Touch runs Android	No	No
Typical handset cost	The lowest of the three	Highest	Middle
Choose it when	Work stays inside the region and budget matters	The route is global, polar or oceanic	Battery life and stable voice matter most

Thuraya Satellite Phones

How the Thuraya network works

The fleet, and why the coverage map changed

Where Thuraya works

Which Thuraya handset should you buy?

Dual-mode: the feature that saves the most money

SatSleeve: your own phone, on satellite

Thuraya airtime and prepaid units

Thuraya compared with Iridium and Inmarsat

Shop Thuraya satellite phones

Thuraya questions, answered

What regions does the Thuraya network cover?

Does Thuraya still work in Australia?

Can I use a normal GSM SIM card in a Thuraya phone?

Which Thuraya phone has the best battery life?

What is the difference between the SatSleeve Hotspot and the SatSleeve+?

Should I buy Thuraya or Iridium?

Does the X5-Touch really run Android apps?

How is Thuraya airtime sold?

Will a Thuraya phone work inside a building?

Is Thuraya restricted in any countries?

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