diff --git a/core/test/mpi/distributed/CMakeLists.txt b/core/test/mpi/distributed/CMakeLists.txt
index ad6929ecdef..a943898653a 100644
--- a/core/test/mpi/distributed/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/core/test/mpi/distributed/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,5 +2,8 @@ ginkgo_create_test(helpers MPI_SIZE 1)
 ginkgo_create_test(matrix MPI_SIZE 1)
 ginkgo_create_test(neighborhood_communicator MPI_SIZE 6)
 ginkgo_create_test(row_gatherer MPI_SIZE 6)
+if (GINKGO_HAVE_CXX17)
+    ginkgo_create_test(sparse_communicator MPI_SIZE 6)
+endif ()
 
 add_subdirectory(preconditioner)
diff --git a/core/test/mpi/distributed/sparse_communicator.cpp b/core/test/mpi/distributed/sparse_communicator.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..464f6d2c769
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/test/mpi/distributed/sparse_communicator.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017 - 2024 The Ginkgo authors
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+
+#include <ginkgo/core/base/dense_cache.hpp>
+#include <ginkgo/core/distributed/sparse_communicator.hpp>
+#include <ginkgo/core/matrix/dense.hpp>
+
+
+#include "core/test/utils/assertions.hpp"
+
+
+class SparseCommunicator : public ::testing::Test {
+protected:
+    using part_type = gko::experimental::distributed::Partition<int, long>;
+    using map_type = gko::experimental::distributed::index_map<int, long>;
+    using Dense = gko::matrix::Dense<>;
+
+    void SetUp()
+    {
+        rank = comm.rank();
+        ASSERT_EQ(comm.size(), 6);
+
+        auto offset = static_cast<double>(rank * 3);
+        buffer = gko::initialize<Dense>({offset, offset + 1, offset + 2}, ref);
+    }
+
+    std::shared_ptr<gko::Executor> ref = gko::ReferenceExecutor::create();
+    gko::experimental::mpi::communicator comm = MPI_COMM_WORLD;
+    int rank = -1;
+
+    // globally this is [0, ..., 17]
+    std::unique_ptr<Dense> buffer;
+    gko::detail::DenseCache<double> recv_buffer;
+    gko::detail::DenseCache<double> send_buffer;
+};
+
+TEST_F(SparseCommunicator, CanDefaultConstruct)
+{
+    gko::experimental::distributed::sparse_communicator spcomm{};
+
+    auto empty = Dense::create(ref);
+    auto req = spcomm.communicate(empty.get(), send_buffer, recv_buffer);
+    req.wait();
+
+    ASSERT_EQ(send_buffer.get(), nullptr);
+    ASSERT_EQ(recv_buffer.get(), nullptr);
+}
+
+TEST_F(SparseCommunicator, CanConstructFromIndexMap)
+{
+    auto part = gko::share(part_type::build_from_global_size_uniform(
+        ref, comm.size(), comm.size() * 3));
+    gko::array<long> recv_connections[] = {{ref, {3, 5, 10, 11}},
+                                           {ref, {0, 1, 7, 12, 13}},
+                                           {ref, {3, 4, 17}},
+                                           {ref, {1, 2, 12, 14}},
+                                           {ref, {4, 5, 9, 10, 15, 16}},
+                                           {ref, {8, 12, 13, 14}}};
+    auto imap = map_type{ref, part, comm.rank(), recv_connections[comm.rank()]};
+
+    gko::experimental::distributed::sparse_communicator spcomm{comm, imap};
+
+    auto req = spcomm.communicate(buffer.get(), send_buffer, recv_buffer);
+    req.wait();
+    ASSERT_NE(send_buffer.get(), nullptr);
+    ASSERT_NE(recv_buffer.get(), nullptr);
+    auto recv_size = recv_connections[rank].get_size();
+    gko::size_type send_size[] = {4, 6, 2, 4, 7, 3};
+    auto send_dim = gko::dim<2>{send_size[rank], 1};
+    auto recv_dim = gko::dim<2>{recv_size, 1};
+    GKO_ASSERT_EQUAL_DIMENSIONS(send_buffer.get(), send_dim);
+    GKO_ASSERT_EQUAL_DIMENSIONS(recv_buffer.get(), recv_dim);
+    // repeat recv_connections, since there is no conversion between long and
+    // double
+    gko::array<double> values[] = {{ref, {3, 5, 10, 11}},
+                                   {ref, {0, 1, 7, 12, 13}},
+                                   {ref, {3, 4, 17}},
+                                   {ref, {1, 2, 12, 14}},
+                                   {ref, {4, 5, 9, 10, 15, 16}},
+                                   {ref, {8, 12, 13, 14}}};
+    auto expected = Dense::create(ref, recv_dim, values[rank], 1);
+    GKO_ASSERT_MTX_NEAR(recv_buffer.get(), expected, 0.0);
+}