Vodafone has signed a deal with Amazon Leo to use its satellites as a backhaul connection for cellular base stations in remote areas of Europe and Africa, saving it from having to cable them up to its core network.
The European telecoms biz will use Amazon Leo to connect geographically dispersed mobile base stations back to its core telecom networks, initially in Germany and other European countries.
It expects the first of these mobile sites to be connected sometime in 2026 and will extend this service as Amazon builds out its satellite constellation. The same will happen across Africa through Vodacom, the South African mobile telco which Vodafone has a majority stake in.
Amazon Leo, formerly known under the code name Project Kuiper, is low Earth orbit satellite network designed to serve up broadband from the edge of space. The first units in the constellation were deployed last year, and The Reg understands more than 200 are now in place, with 32 lofted by an Arianne rocket on February 12.
Although Amazon is some way behind rival Starlink, it hopes to eventually have upwards of 3,000 satellites in orbit, each offering cell site backhaul of up to 1 Gbps download and 400 Mbps upload.
Vodafone says this agreement allows it to deploy 4G and 5G base stations more easily and affordably in previously unserved areas, especially rural regions, without the time and expense of installing long fiber-based or fixed wireless links back to the core network.
This will also boost network resilience for emergency services if fiber links connecting mobile masts are broken or impacted by disasters such as flooding, Vodafone says.
“Amazon Leo’s new satellite constellation supports our ambition to give all Vodafone customers reliable and high-speed connectivity, wherever they are,” Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle said.
At the same time, Vodafone has an existing agreement with another satellite operator, AST SpaceMobile, to deliver direct-to-device services, whereby the user’s phone links directly to a satellite in orbit.
On Friday, the pair launched Satellite Connect Europe, not as a service for consumers, but for European mobile network operators to offer satellite connectivity to their own subscribers.
Satellite Connect Europe is progressing the rollout of ground stations located in five markets across Europe, with builds in Spain and the UK underway and three more locations currently being finalized. This infrastructure is designed to support direct-to-device services that integrate seamlessly with existing mobile networks and support existing smartphones with no need for an upgrade.
A Vodafone spokesperson confirmed to The Register that the company intends to use Satellite Connect Europe to offer its own direct-to-device services, starting with the UK, Ireland and Romania, but would not be drawn on a date.
The company previously hoped to be the first to offer a commercial direct-to-smartphone satellite service in Europe, touting this to appear sometime in 2025.
However, it was beaten by Ukrainian telco Kyivstar, which in November started offering a direct-to device connection via Starlink for its subscribers, which allows them to stay connected during blackouts caused by the war, or in hard-to-reach areas.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) got in before Vodafone in the UK, announcing its O2 Satellite service went live last week. Also powered by Starlink’s constellation, this allows users to automatically connect via satellite in remote locations that have no phone signal, and is available initially as a £3-per-month ($4) Bolt On for all O2 Pay Monthly customers. ®