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Vodafone Group is entering into a joint venture with AST SpaceMobile to jointly serve the European market with telephony. If there is no 5G coverage, it will connect cell phones to a telecom satellite.

The joint, new company is to serve other European telecom providers. The goal is to achieve 100 percent coverage on EU territory.

The parties announced this Monday at the international exhibition Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. For the EU region, it is an exclusive deal for AST SpaceMobile.

SatCo, the company's working title, will build and run a network of ground stations to connect satellites and European telecom companies.

In January 2025, Vodafone conducted the first successful test of satellite-based telephony in Wales, using a regular phone and without a telecom mast nearby. Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle made a video call for proof. The connection was fairly narrowband, judging by the resolution.

SpaceX's Starlink is a competitor to AST SpaceMobile in terms of telecom services via space. Starlink's data services do not yet work through phones, but only through a special modem. The company plans to change that soon.

In December 2024, the European Commission mandated the creation of a network of satellites beaming broadband to Earth. Cost: 10.6 billion euros. The so-called Iris2 project does not yet have a single antenna in the sky.

China is building a similar network of broadband satellites. The first nodes of China's Guowang broadband constellation have been orbiting for several months.

AST SpaceMobile also released its 2024 financial figures early this week. Revenue: four billion, net loss: half a billion dollars.

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