Vodafone has made the world’s first mobile satellite video call from a place with no signal, saying this could soon let users chat from anywhere.
The group’s chief executive accepted a call from what was previously a ‘dead zone’ in the middle of Wales.
Sitting next to his dog on a dark and rainy mountain, engineer Rowan Chesner chatted to Margherita Della Valle back at base on Monday morning.
It’s part of the company’s rollout of satellite internet, which they aim will be up and running for customers across the UK by the end of this year.
They unveiled the first ‘space to land gateway’ in Europe today, and cheekily pointed out that means they have beaten Elon Musk, who has only sent satellite text messages here so far, and made his satellite video call last year from a place already served by terrestrial internet.
Luke Ibbetson, head of R&D at Vodafone, told Metro that their new tech ‘will bring an end to the blackspots where you can’t get mobile signal.’
While it is not intended to replace standard terrestrial service, and will not be as effective indoors, it will be a big change for places that are currently not served at all by internet data, acting as a sort of phone mast in the sky.
‘We’re talking very remote areas of mountains and also at sea, where you wouldn’t normally expect to receive a signal,’ Luke explained.
If you thought being lost on a mountain would excuse you from Zoom meetings, that may soon no longer be the case (but at least you will be able to call a rescue team).
To use the new capabilities in the UK once they come live, you will just need a standard smartphone with 4G or 5G.
Of course, you might need to pay more to access the additional service. Vodafone wouldn’t be drawn on pricing details, and said that’s all still to be decided.
Customers who struggle to get Vodafone access even in parts of central London (a problem common to all major providers due to density of users ad lack of phone masts) may raise an eyebrow that you’ll soon be able to call from ridges in the middle of Snowdonia, or anywhere in Europe.
But astronaut Tim Peake has backed the breakthrough, and said he knows only too well the lifeline satellite internet can be, from his weekly video call back home while living on the International Space Station.
He joined the company to unveil the satellite receiver in Newbury which is making it possible.
Vodafone is not the only network to be investing in satellite coverage, but says others are focused on simple services such as being able to call the emergency services.
Early users of T-Mobile’s partnership with Starlink, which will soon be available in the US, will only be able send and receive satellite-powered text messages, ‘with plans to pursue voice and data coverage next’.
Before launching the new coverage nationally, Vodafone’s partner AST SpaceMobile needs to send up more BlueBird satellites to build the ‘constellation’ it will rely on.
‘These are low earth orbit satellites 500km above out heads, whizzing around above our heads at 17,000mph,’ Luke said.
Currently, there are only five, which is not enough for it to work all the time. By the time the tech was ready to deploy, the satellite needed was only passing over the UK in the early hours of the mornings, which is why Rowan had to sit on the mountain in the dark.
Vodafone said they were particulrly excited because today’s call is a landmark achievement for Europe in this exciting next technology frontier. It comes 40 years after Vodafone made the UK’s very first mobile phone call, when Michael Harrison called his father – Sir Ernest Harrison, Vodafone’s founder and first chairman – just after midnight on 1 January 1985 from Parliament Square, London.
Abel Avellan, CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said: ‘This historic milestone marks another significant step forward in our partnership with Vodafone, a long-time investor in AST SpaceMobile and a key technology partner.
‘Together, we have achieved several world firsts in space-based broadband connectivity, including the first-ever space-based voice call, the first-ever 4G download speed above 10 Mbps, and the first-ever 5G voice call.
‘This latest achievement using our BlueBird satellites, takes us one step closer to our mission to eliminate connectivity gaps and make cellular broadband accessible to all.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Urgent warning as major network provider set to shut down mobile internet access
