Vodafone and Japan’s Rakuten have become the new lead investors in a venture to expand mobile coverage using a mobile broadband network that will be broadcast from space. The low-Earth-orbit (LEO), low-latency satellite network from Texas-based AST & Science has been dubbed SpaceMobile and is aiming to be the first in the world to connect directly to standard smartphones, said Vodafone in a statement.
The SpaceMobile network will enable roaming to and from terrestrial cellular networks at comparable data rates without any need for specialised satellite hardware. AST & Science will initially offer 4G services to partner networks globally, with 5G delivered in the future.
Alongside its investment, Vodafone has agreed to a strategic partnership and will contribute technical, operational and regulatory expertise in support of the global deployment of SpaceMobile. The UK operator’s CEO Nick Read said SpaceMobile would further enhance the company’s network across Europe and Africa, above all in rural areas and during natural or humanitarian disasters, while Rakuten chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani described the venture as “a perfect fit for us”.
AST & Science successfully tested its SpaceMobile technology aboard the BlueWalker 1 satellite, launched in April 2019, and has so far raised a total of USD 128 million, including early investments from Cisneros and founder Abel Avellan.
