Vodafone moves to bring ultra-fast internet to the most remote areas of rural Spain. The teleco prepares the technology to fully enter the business of connectivity and commercial satellite voice and data services to all corners of emptied Spain, where deploying fiber optics is technically impossible or economically unfeasible.
Vodafone is thus preparing to challenge the Hispasat satellite group, which in the last year has given new impetus to the sale of wholesale ultra-fast satellite internet services in the Spanish countryside and which has just been provisionally chosen by the Government as the winner of a regulated and subsidized connectivity service in areas hitherto without coverage at affordable prices (35 euros per month for the final customer).
Vodafone Spain finalizes the implementation of a series of pilot projects to test satellite voice and data services in alliance with the AST SpaceMobile group, which has the Vodafone Group itself as one of its main shareholders and which guarantees the teleco to use this technology exclusively in the markets in which it operates. The plans call for activating these tests this summer once the mandatory regulatory approvals for the use of the radioelectric spectrum have been obtained from the European Commission and the Spanish Government.
The intention of the telecommunications company is to fine-tune the technology to launch the first satellite mobile broadband service to connect directly to standard mobile phones in Spain, without the need for other infrastructures or facilities to provide coverage to the areas (particularly satellite dishes), as the company revealed on the eve of the opening of the Mobile World Congress (MWC)which is being held this week in Barcelona.
Vodafone last November announced the successful deployment of the BlueWalker 3 communications satellite and plans for testing in collaboration with AST SpaceMobile, which is building the world’s first mobile-satellite mobile broadband network for unmodified mobile phones. Once up and running it will allow users, for example, to never lose coverage by being able to automatically switch from the usual terrestrial connection to the satellite connection.
More connectivity
The goal is to provide connectivity to users from space at broadband speeds regardless of their locationincluding rural, marine, areas or areas that are very difficult to access, which will be especially useful to guarantee communications in the event of emergencies or natural or humanitarian disasters.
“Customers value the connection speed, coverage and price. With this service speed and coverage will be the same as with the terrestrial connection. We have not yet developed the business model and we have not talked about price but the vocation is that it be a service that is neither minority nor elitist”, pointed out Yago Tenorio, Network Director of the Vodafone Group. “Our goal is to make it reach all customers.”
The company calculates that once this service is operational, the current land cover footprint in Spain could increase up to 95% taking advantage of this satellite technology and opening the possibility of serving about 200,000 new leads. The Government has proposed, within the framework of the Digital Spain 2025 Agenda and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Planachieve 100 Mbps data coverage for the entire Spanish population in the middle of this decade (by mid-2021 it reached 88% of the population) and gigabit and 5G connectivity for the entire population in 2030.
AST SpaceMobile intends to request the registration of the satellite network that it has planned in Spain and the Vodafone Group has decided locate in our country the command center for traffic management in the Mediterranean -the specific location has not yet been decided, but Malaga is being studied- and that it is managed by Vodafone Spain. Likewise, it is expected to deploy a satellite control center in Madrid to optimize the operations of the satellite fleet and command and control in real time, in connection with the other AST control centers.
“It is a revolutionary solution that could complement traditional coverage and that is perfectly adapted to the scenario of homes and businesses in rural Spain”, explained Julia Velasco, Network Director of Vodafone Spain “Our purpose is to guarantee that everyone has access to the services and benefits of a digital society, no matter where they live”, with the aim of closing the digital gap between territories and promoting territorial cohesion.