Lacuna Space and SimpleSpace: Now Open for Business in Colombia

OXFORD, UK – May 27, 2026 – Lacuna Space today announced a strategic collaboration with the Colombian pioneer in IoT SimpleSpace. Together, the two companies aim to bridge the connectivity gap and provide reliable satellite-enabled IoT across Colombia’s most remote regions.

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The geography of Colombia is a masterclass in natural extremes. From the high-altitude páramos of the Andes to the dense, oxygen-rich canopy of the Amazon and the sprawling wetlands that sustain 87% of the population, the landscape is the country’s greatest asset, and its most significant infrastructure challenge. For decades, this rugged terrain has dictated a harsh digital divide. While Bogotá and Medellín operate at the speed of the global market, the rural heartland has been left to operate in a connectivity vacuum. As of 2025, it was estimated that approximately 80% of rural sites in Colombia lacked any form of reliable internet.

This not only represents a limitation to access digital services and communication platforms, but it also poses a structural barrier on the nation’s ability to monitor its resources, protect its borders, and modernise its strategic industries such as the agriculture, energy and utility sectors. This situation can be seen in the Claro Móvil Network Coverage in Colombia image below.

Lacuna Space does not see these remote regions as dead zones. Instead, the company views them as the source of vital, untapped data, the “whispers from the wild” that contribute to the nation’s digital, environmental and productivity transformation.

Today, Lacuna Space announced a collaborative effort with the Colombian business SimpleSpace, a local pioneer in adopting aerospace technologies to IoT solutions where the traditional telecommunications infrastructure is limited or non-existent. This is a nimble, collaborative initiative designed to fill a demand that terrestrial infrastructure simply cannot meet within the Colombian territory. 

In this context, SimpleSpace will contribute with its technology identifying implementation opportunities where traditional cellular networks, which only cover around 50% of Colombia’s territory, cannot go. The partnership enables the deployment of devices that connect directly to satellites, giving an infrastructure-free solution that bypasses the need for complex towers on the ground, bringing satellite-IoT directly to remote and rural areas.

The Economic Case for Connectivity

When analysing the backbone of the Colombian economy, the importance of this partnership becomes clear: Agriculture. In 2025, the agricultural industry was the third-highest growing economic activity in the country, contributing 10.5% to Colombia’s GVA. With an estimated 5.2 million hectares under cultivation out of a total land area of 207 million hectares, the scale of management is staggering. However, when only 28.8% of rural households have internet access, most farmers still need to make real-time decisions related to their crops, their resources and the environmental conditions, effectively having to work in the dark.

By utilising Lacuna’s Direct-to-Satellite ultra-low-power LoRaWAN® technology, a coffee farmer in the remote hills of Huila or a palm oil producer in the north can now deploy sensors that measure variables such as soil moisture, temperature or environmental conditions, and that talk directly to our Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. 

The competitive advantage here is twofold: battery life and cost. Traditional satellite tech is power-hungry and expensive. Lacuna’s approach allows sensors to run for years on a single battery, making smart agriculture viable for smallholders and industrial giants alike. The company provides the data-driven decision tools that allow Colombian farmers to optimise water use and increase yields where conventional cellular coverage does not exist and without a single cell tower in sight.

Safeguarding the Hydrological Wealth

Colombia is one of the most water-rich nations on Earth, with aquatic ecosystems covering 95.6 million hectares. Yet, this wealth is under immense pressure associated with climate change, the increase of industrial activities and the existing infrastructure gaps in remote areas. 

The country’s glaciers have shrunk by 56% in the last decades, and only 9.7% of remote municipalities currently have access to safe drinking water. Furthermore, the environmental toll of modernisation is evident as rivers receive roughly 919,000 tons of non-biodegradable organic waste annually.

Through the Lacuna Space-SimpleSpace partnership, river and water ecosystem monitoring is now enabled at scale. Low-cost, satellite-connected sensors can now be placed in the most remote wetlands to monitor water quality and levels in real-time. 

This is about more than just data; it is about community wellbeing, environmental management and justice and the protection of natural resources. By hearing the “whispers” from these remote ecosystems, utility companies, environmental entities and NGOs can detect contamination or leakage immediately, protecting the second-highest number of freshwater fish species in the world and ensuring that clean water reaches the most vulnerable communities.

The Sogamoso Trials: A Regulatory Step Forward

Commercial aperture in Colombia required more than just technical brilliance; it required a commitment to the global space ecosystem and effective coordination with the national regulatory authorities. In a landmark collaboration with the Agencia Nacional del Espectro (ANE) and the Ministerio de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (MinTIC), Lacuna Space and SimpleSpace conducted successful experimental trials in the Sogamoso municipality, Boyacá, focussed on validating the operation of low-power satellite-IoT technologies in the country.

Under MinTIC’s Resolution 04482 of 2025, it was proved that transmissions in the 915-928 MHz band are not only feasible, but coexist harmoniously with other spectrum users within Colombia and comply with the technical specifications of Resolution 105 of 2020. Such a milestone demonstrates that a viable, safe, and technical pathway exists for low-power satellite-IoT across Latin America to thrive within the existing regulatory frameworks. These efforts have effectively cleared the path for Colombia to become a strategic hub for expansion into the wider Latin American market.

A Visionary Hub: Colombia as a LATAM Leader

“Our partnership with SimpleSpace signals a fundamental shift toward a resilient, data-driven industry in Colombia,” says Rob Spurrett, CEO of Lacuna Space. “By merging our global satellite network with local insight, we provide a non-invasive monitoring solution that protects the Colombian landscape while empowering the people who steward it”.

SimpleSpace stands at the heart of this mission, acting as our local representative and as the primary catalyst for these solutions on the ground.

“This collaboration represents a new paradigm, demonstrating that space technology can be used innovatively to connect historically disconnected territories. By transmitting productive and environmental data from Earth to space and back to digital environments, we are enabling new capabilities for agriculture, resource management and climate resilience in Colombia,“ mentions Juan Sebastián Rodríguez, CEO of SimpleSpace. “Together with Lacuna Space, we aim to bring connectivity, intelligent monitoring, and data-driven decision making to the entire of Latin America.”

The Colombian market is now officially open for business. The partnership between both companies aims to drive forward new connectivity and intelligent monitoring capabilities for sectors like agriculture, blue economy, energy and environmental monitoring, contributing to the sustainable development of the country. Whether you are a commercial enterprise in logistics, a government institution focused on sustainable development, or an environmentalist safeguarding the Amazon, the connectivity gap is closing, giving access to untapped data found in historically disconnected territories. Lacuna Space is doing something beyond launching satellites; it is launching a new chapter for Colombian innovation, one that begins with a single call of the wild.

Are you ready to join the mission?

Explore our solution portal to see the technology in action or contact us to begin your deployment. Together with our partners, we are ensuring that no corner of Colombia, no matter how remote it is, remains in the dark.

 

About SimpleSpace SimpleSpace designs cyber-physical systems based on low-cost, resistant, non-invasive, and modular aerospace technology to give access to information and facilitate decision-making in a simple way. To learn more, visit SimpleSpace.

About Lacuna Space Lacuna Space delivers direct-to-device IoT connectivity service using ultra-low-power protocols optimised for battery powered devices. Built on its proprietary LoneWhisper^® technology, Lacuna Space’s network supports remote sensors across agriculture, environment, utilities, and the oceans — enabling reliable global coverage with no ground infrastructure. For more information see lacuna.space