(Credit: AST SpaceMobile)
Texas-based AST SpaceMobile is laying the groundwork to deliver satellite-to-phone services across Europe amid growing competition with SpaceX’s cellular Starlink system.
British carrier Vodafone, a major investor in AST, is working with the company to establish a "jointly owned European satellite service business" designed to serve mobile carriers in Europe.
The joint venture, dubbed SatCo, promises to supply “100% geographic coverage in every part of Europe” to both consumers and businesses through their local mobile carriers, the companies said in the announcement.
They're also emphasizing that “SatCo’s solution will fully support European digital sovereignty,” giving countries control over the data that flows through AST’s emerging satellite network. AST is preparing to operate dozens of so-called “BlueBird” satellites that can act as cell towers in space. But in Europe, SatCo is going to build the ground stations and network backhaul to feed and route the data to the BlueBird satellites.
“Together with Vodafone, we are poised to accelerate our commercialization plans across all of Europe, making true mobile broadband from space a reality,” says AST CEO Abel Avellan.
The European Union has been trying to develop its own satellite internet systems without relying on SpaceX’s Starlink, which has also been expanding into mobile connectivity.
Separately, the EU is investing $11 billion to create a satellite internet service called IRIS² to supply high-speed broadband to governments, businesses, and consumers. In contrast, the Vodafone and AST deal is focused on mobile phones, enabling European carriers to deliver a satellite service to handsets, without any hardware modifications. Last month, Vodafone demoed the technology by using the BlueBird satellites to power a video call from a remote region in Wales that lacked traditional cell coverage.
AST is also partnering with AT&T and Verizon to deliver the same capabilities to users in the US, giving consumers a way to receive connectivity in cellular dead zones. The big question is when AST can commercially launch the service. The Texas-based company has only sent five BlueBird satellites into orbit when it needs at least 45 to 60 to provide continuous coverage to users on the ground. Still, Vodafone expects the satellites to deliver the space-based mobile broadband across Europe “during 2025 and 2026.”
Meanwhile, SpaceX is already operating close to 500 cellular Starlink satellites in orbit, which have begun powering SMS messaging to T-Mobile phones as part of a beta program. T-Mobile plans on officially kicking off the service in July by selling access to both its own subscribers and to customers on other carriers, including AT&T and Verizon.
The cellular Starlink service will also arrive for carriers in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. But in Europe, SpaceX seems to have only reached deals with a local carrier in Ukraine and another carrier in Switzerland.