Page 48 - SAMENA Trends - March-April 2025

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Vodafone and AST Spacemobile Launch European Satellite Broadband Company

Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile have
announced a new joint venture, SatCo,
to bring space-based mobile broadband
to Europe. The company said it will aim
to provide “100% geographic coverage in
every part of Europe” SatCo will act as the
exclusive distributor of AST SpaceMobile’s
satellite services across Europe, using
Vodafone’s network and AST’s low Earth
orbit (LEO) technology. The collaboration
is set to deliver mobile broadband directly
to users without requiring additional
hardware or software. “Vodafone’s space-
based mobile broadband will mean our
customers can stay connected, wherever
they are. Our new satellite company will be
able to offer this pioneering technology to
other European mobile operators through a secure and sovereign backhaul services. The demonstration showed that satellite
turnkey service that combines Vodafone’s AST SpaceMobile’s satellites function broadband can integrate with Vodafone’s
leading network and engineering with as remote radio heads, maintaining existing mobile networks. With commercial
AST SpaceMobile’s ‘antennas in the sky’,” core network control within MNOs. In rollout planned for 2025 and 2026, the
said Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle January, Vodafone announced that it service will expand coverage to areas
in a press release. The company will be had successfully conducted the world’s where traditional networks struggle,
headquartered in Europe and will operate first space-based mobile video call using including mountains, rural locations, and
a network of ground stations to ensure AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites. open waters.

Viasat, Partners Showcase Satellite-to-Car Connectivity Breakthrough

Viasat, a global leader in satellite communi- NTN satellite communication modules, outlines an approach for devices like mo-
cations, announced the first-of-its-kind paired with Quectel’s high-performance an- bile phones, vehicles, and industrial ma-
demonstration of direct-to-device (D2D) tennas, that enabled the vehicles to seam- chinery to connect to satellites without a
connectivity for the automotive sector, lessly switch between satellite and cellular dedicated satellite terminal. This technolo-
opening the door for widescale adoption of networks, ensuring uninterrupted connec- gy, known as direct-to-device, is changing
satellite connectivity for automotive use tivity based on location. By leveraging the way that satellite connectivity is deliv-
cases. In a country-first, the tests saw dif- 3GPP-enabled D2D technology, car manu- ered. Viasat is currently developing a di-
ferent vehicles connect directly to Viasat’s facturers and service providers are able to rect-to-device ecosystem of chipset manu-
highly reliable L-band satellites and Skylo’s offer a variety of new services to consum- facturers, MNOs, OEMs, and solution
network to provide narrowband tracking, ers and businesses. Vehicles can stay con- providers to augment its existing network
monitoring, and messaging capabilities. nected even in rural locations, allowing pas- MSS network capabilities, which are al-
The trials took place over the last four sengers and cargo to stay safe wherever ready utilized for safety services at sea and
months between Blumenau and Curitiba in they are. Narrowband applications for D2D in the air. The company recently joined the
southern Brazil. The tests, conducted by Vi- in the automotive space will include the 5G Automotive Association to support con-
asat’s ecosystem partner GuardianSat, provision of positioning data, predictive nected transport applications, following
used 3GPP standards-based non-terrestri- maintenance, emergency and breakdown three high-profile mobile device demonstra-
al-network (NTN) service infrastructure assistance, and real-time supply chain tions in India, Saudi Arabia, and the United
through Viasat’s connectivity partner, Ac- tracking. Satellite and cellular technologies Arab Emirates last quarter.
celeronix. In addition, Quectel Wireless have started on a pathway to convergence
Solutions provided advanced CC660D-LS after 3GPP’s Release 17 standard, which

48 MARCH-APRIL 2025