Vodafone announced it has made the world’s first video call from an area of no coverage using a commercial satellite connection and standard mobile phone. The call was touted as the “first space to land gateway in Europe,” connecting satellites with Vodafone’s terrestrial network. Call participants Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone Group, in a remote area of Wales, and British astronaut Tim Peake, in Newbury, UK, experienced “a full mobile broadband experience” during the groundbreaking connection. Vodafone is working with Starlink rival AST SpaceMobile to bring a commercial satellite-to-mobile broadband service to Europe, possibly this year.

“AT&T and Verizon have also cut deals with Texas-based AST SpaceMobile to provide satellite-to-smartphone services across the U.S.,” writes The Verge, noting that “the company has received FCC approval to begin testing its U.S.-based coverage for AT&T this spring, meaning a full rollout is likely to lag behind Europe.”

Bloomberg reports that Apple “has been secretly working with SpaceX and T-Mobile” to integrate Starlink support in its latest iPhone software as an alternative to the emergency in-house satellite-communications setup Apple started using in 2022 with the iPhone 14.

Apple’s coterie has been “testing iPhones with the Starlink service from Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies,” Bloomberg writes, adding that “in an under-the-radar move, the smartphone’s latest software update — released Monday — now supports the technology.”

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites are purpose-built “to transmit 4G/5G mobile broadband signals from space,” which will “give users broadband cellular capability with any 4G/5G smartphone in remote areas lacking traditional mobile coverage,” according to Engadget.

“Vodafone has successfully made the world’s first space video call using normal 4G/5G smartphones and satellites that will allow multiple users in areas of no mobile coverage to make and receive video calls, access the Internet and use online messaging services” without the need for special equipment, like dishes, Vodafone explained in a news release.

The company claims its connectivity is “the only satellite technology of its kind built to offer a full mobile broadband experience,” paving the way for “universal digital connectivity.”

Bloomberg posits that “pricing will be the key question around uptake,” citing CCS Insight research that indicates “around half of people in the UK would be willing to pay more for satellite connectivity.”

Related:
Starlink Profit Growing Rapidly as It Faces a Moment of Promise and Peril, Ars Technica, 2/25