AST SpaceMobile partners with Vodafone through 2034

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS, WKN: A3CL8W) has entered into a definitive long-term partnership with Vodafone. The agreement, which binds the two partners together through 2034, will enable Vodafone to offer space-based cellular broadband to its customers in its home and partner markets.

The definitive cooperation agreement replaces existing letters of intent and enables AST SpaceMobile to not only serve the domestic US market with its space-based services, but also to gain a foothold in the European and African markets, where the Vodafone Group has its main business operations.

For Vodafone, the collaboration with AST SpaceMobile also makes a lot of sense, because AST is the first and currently still the only company to offer its customers access to a space-based cellular broadband network. From Vodafone’s point of view, the alternative was not to work with AST SpaceMobile or with another provider, but to want to offer space-based telephony or not.

Since Vodafone did not want to fall behind its competitors in this area, the decision to work with AST SpaceMobile made a lot of sense, and the length of the collaboration is also appropriate, as it will take some time before other providers are also able to offer their customers the use of a space-based broadband network.

Vodafone also invested in AST SpaceMobile at an early stage

Vodafone decided very early on to offer space-based services to its own customers and to partners with whom it works. That is why it has already participated in financing rounds at AST SpaceMobile three times in the past. The success of these efforts became apparent in April 2023, when the partners conducted the first space-based mobile phone calls together with AST SpaceMobile.

These initial successful tests were quickly followed by further milestones, such as the first G4 download at a speed of over 10 Mbps in June 2023 and the first G5 voice call on an unmodified cell phone in September 2023 023. In their various tests, the partners have demonstrated that it is possible to make a phone call across the Atlantic on an unmodified mobile phone using a 5-MHz channel, with download speeds of over 20 Mbit/s.

As a consequence of the successful tests, Vodafone has ordered its first Block 1 BlueBird gateway, marking a milestone in the deployment of the AST SpaceMobile global network infrastructure. Users outside of traditional cellular coverage can now connect their everyday smartphones directly to the AST SpaceMobile satellites stationed in low Earth orbit, relaying signals and data to the gateway.

The next generation of satellites is already in the starting blocks.

These gateways then connect to Vodafone’s existing network infrastructure, so that the broadband data is forwarded to the user’s device. For mobile customers, this means that they will soon be able to access third-party apps and the internet even in classic dead spots.

With the Block 1 BlueBirds, AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone are indeed ushering in the age of space-based telephony, but with the Block 2 BlueBirds, the next stage of development is already in the starting blocks. The Block 2 BlueBirds from AST SpaceMobile are the next generation of satellites. With up to 222.5 square meters of communication arrays, they are designed to provide up to ten times more bandwidth capacity than the BlueBird satellites currently in orbit. This enables data transfer speeds of up to 120 Mbit/s, supporting voice services and full data and video applications.

The final contract with Vodafone is expected to be followed by further contracts with other providers in the near future, as AST SpaceMobile has entered into agreements with more than 45 mobile network operators worldwide in the past. Together, they represent approximately 2.8 billion subscribers and are a veritable who’s who of the mobile industry. Like Vodafone, AT&T, Verizon, Google, Rakuten, American Tower, Cisneros Group and Bell Canada have gone a step further, not only wanting to use AST SpaceMobile’s services as customers, but have also taken an early stake in the company as investors.