Vodafone establishes satellite calling company in Luxembourg

Published: 2025-07-01 07:01:35 ET ASTS

Published on 07/01/2025 at 07:01

The new joint venture between Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile chooses Luxembourg as its base.

The new company focuses on providing mobile broadband connectivity from space. Simply put: if there is no 4G or 5G phone coverage, they will provide it from space.

Mobile operators in 21 European countries have already shown interest in using the service, which the parties announced last spring at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The joint new company operates as an independent telecom entity.

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

Commercial services are expected from 2026 onwards. At that point, European mobile providers will add the option to their portfolios.

SpaceX’s Starlink is a competitor to AST SpaceMobile in the field of space-based telecom services. Starlink’s data services do not yet work via phones, but only through a special modem. The company aims to change that soon.

According to insider information from the German tech publication Golem.de, SatCo is bidding on the newly allocated S-band frequencies for direct-to-device services in Europe. These frequency bands have been assigned to Viasat/Inmarsat and Echostar.

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