AST SpaceMobile signs up Vodafone
December 10, 2024
By Chris Forrester
AST SpaceMobile wants to be the world’s space-based cellular supplier. It has already secured Verizon in the US and has now signed Vodafone to a global agreement which runs until 2034.
Vodafone, and its own partner telcos, can offer AST’s space-based cellular broadband connectivity in its home markets and for its partner operators in Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. It operates in more than 20 markets under its own name and its partnerships operate in more than 40 others.
The deal is said to be potentially more valuable than the Verizon agreement although financial terms were not revealed in AST’s December 9th announcement.
Vodafone has been a financial investor in AST since 2018 and had an initial $25 million (€23.7m) initial investment in the satellite company.
In April 2023, AST and its partners completed the first-ever space-based voice call to an unmodified phone. That was followed by the first-ever 4G download speed above 10 Mbps in June 2023 and the first-ever 5G voice call in September 2023. Ultimately, the company and its partners have demonstrated over 20 mbps download speeds to unmodified phones on a 5 Mhz channel.
A Vodafone executive stated that the deal was a “landmark agreement” and would deliver cellular connections directly in Vodafone’s mission to provide space-based broadband connectivity directly to their customer’s and everyday cell phones. The agreement will eliminate “dead zones” and bring “true global connectivity to live and enhancing seamless and reliable service across the Vodafone footprint”.
AST SpaceMobile has also notified the FCC that all five of its Block-1 BlueBird satellites have been successfully deployed into their orbits consistent with conditions set forth in the FCC authorisations.
The task for AST is to now rapidly expand its existing fleet in order to achieve these global ambitions. It is looking to have more than 60 satellites in orbit by the end of 2025 and thus begin its global coverage. Reach of these new satellites measure some 225 sq metres in area, and significantly larger than the existing first-generation craft wjhich measured 65 sq metres.
The company has agreements with more than 45 mobile network operators globally, which have over approximately 2.8 billion existing subscribers total, including Vodafone Group, AT&T, Verizon, Rakuten Mobile, Bell Canada, Orange, Telefonica, TIM, Saudi Telecom Company, Zain KSA, Etisalat, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Telkomsel, Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Millicom, Smartfren, Telecom Argentina, MTN, Telstra, Africell, Liberty Latin America and others. AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Google, Rakuten, American Tower, Cisneros Group and Bell Canada are also existing investors in AST SpaceMobile.
Vodafone is a leading European and African telecoms company. “We provide mobile and fixed services to over 330 million customers in 15 countries, partner with mobile networks in 45 more and have one of the world’s largest IoT platforms. In Africa, our financial technology businesses serve almost 83 million customers across seven countries – managing more transactions than any other provider.”