AST and Vodafone See 2026 Commercial Launch of European D2D Constellation
AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone said Friday that they anticipate commercial launch in 2026 of their joint satellite mobile broadband service. The companies announced in March that they were partnering on a European direct-to-device satellite service (see 2503030015). Mobile network operators in 21 EU member states and other European nations have expressed interest in the service, they said Friday. The command center for the satellite service will be in Germany, they added.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle said the European sovereign satellite service "will give European operators access to secure and resilient satellite communications, complementing existing terrestrial telecommunications networks. By establishing a satellite constellation in the EU and our principal command centre in Germany, we are ensuring the next frontier of communications infrastructure is firmly embedded in Europe.”