Last week a Vodafone engineer, Rowan Chesmer, somewhere in the middle of Wales and very much in a dead zone for cellular connectivity, used an AST SpaceMobile satellite to send a video call to Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle and British astronaut Tim Peake. The demonstration led to some enthusiastic celebrations from AST themselves and […]

Vodafone is prepared to go head-to-head this year against Elon Musk’s Starlink in the ‘battle for space connectivity’. AST SpaceMobile (AST) connectivity for the UK and the rest of Europe is likely to start later in 2025. Vodafone is currently using five AST SpaceMobile satellites for its test phone calls but AST will expand its […]

Thirty government-funded mast upgrades have now been activated as part of the Shared Rural Network (SRN) – a programme brokered by the UK government and joint-funded with mobile network operators to improve mobile coverage in rural areas. There are 21 sites are now live in Wales, five in Scotland and four in England. Rural towns […]

Rivada Space Networks, which does not yet have a satellite in orbit, has nevertheless signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vodafone’s Cook Islands “powering network expansion and digital transformation in the Oceania region and beyond”. Rivada has plans to launch 300 satellites. The International Telecommunications Union requires Rivada to launch its satellites by mid-2026. Rivada […]

Swisscom has received clearance for the acquisition of Vodafone Italia from both the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) and the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT). The Italian Competition Authority has cleared the transaction and accepted behavioural commitments proposed by Swisscom. These include the continued provision of wholesale […]

Analysts at Deutsche Bank have re-examined prospects for would-be global telco ‘space tower’ business AST SpaceMobile (AST) as being worth $53 (€50.51) per share. They recommend clients ‘BUY’ AST. “We currently expect AST will begin broad commercial service in northern Latitudes during 2026. We expect that by 2030, AST will generate nearly $3 billion from […]

AST SpaceMobile wants to be the world’s space-based cellular supplier. It has already secured Verizon in the US and has now signed Vodafone to a global agreement which runs until 2034. Vodafone, and its own partner telcos, can offer AST’s space-based cellular broadband connectivity in its home markets and for its partner operators in Europe, […]

AST SpaceMobile has been licensed by media regulator Ofcom to start testing its satellite-based ‘direct-to-cellular’ (D2C) service in the UK. The licence is for six months starting on December 20th. Other national regulators have approved similar tests ahead of full service introductions. AST is working with Vodafone in the UK as its telco partner, although […]

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided Vodafone’s £16.5 billion (€19.9bn) merger with Three – creating the UK’s biggest mobile network with 27 million customers – should be allowed to proceed if both companies sign binding commitments to “invest billions” to roll out a combined 5G network across the UK. The network commitment would […]

For a limited time, Vodafone Pay Monthly mobile customers in the UK can claim a three-month subscription of Disney+ Standard with Ads, usually costing £4.99 a month. Once the three-month period has ended, customers will automatically be charged the monthly price of £4.99 for Disney+ Standard with Ads. Customers can choose to continue on the […]