Vodafone first space-based video call from rural Wales

A remote part of mid-Wales has become the backdrop for a major technological milestone, as Vodafone successfully made the world’s first space-based video call using a standard mobile phone and satellites designed to deliver full mobile broadband coverage.

https://www.deeside.com/vodafone-achieves-first-spac...

I wonder if that is classed as roaming?

Cheers!

Isn't this just standard mobile but instead of backhauling the connection via a physical line they are doing it via satellite? I would suggest many people with Starlink have made video calls on a standard mobile phone.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Isn't this just standard mobile but instead of backhauling the connection via a physical line they are doing it via satellite? I would suggest many people with Starlink have made video calls on a standard mobile phone.

I think you would need a Starlink base station to do that, this only requires a mobile phone.

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I wonder if that is classed as roaming?

Depends if the satellite is transmitting a Vodafone code and acting as a remote base station on the UK network, or if the satellite is a different LTE network host that is partnering with VF.

Someone needs a Starlink base station to do it the Vodafone way - the only real difference is that Vodafone are providing Starlink as the backhaul. It is just another form of backhaul - it isn't exactly groundbreaking to change one part of the backhaul to satellite.

It is good that it allows them to expand mobile networks without having to put in infrastructure for a wired backhaul but it is essentially no different to someone putting Starlink in at home and could even use a 4G base station to provide 4G to phones - people have been able to do this ever since Starlink became available (technically it could have been done before Starlink but it would have been expensive and the old satellite networks were higher orbit and had higher latency).

I am not belittling the fact Vodafone have done it to connect a remote community but this isn't some amazing technical feat - it is a very basic feat of engineering from what I can see of the solution.

There are actually two stories that I have seen..

I believe the Welsh satellite one requires a mobile phone with satellite capability which isn't that common.

There is also a story about O2 (?) using a Starlink connection as the backhaul for a new phone mast at Craster - previously a mobile not spot. Less high tech really but probably more useful to most people.

I may have mixed up the 2 stories as I have seen both today.

So, it appears Vodafone have actually got their own satellites in orbit that are delivering a 4G/5G signal to the ground - but they also state "space-to-land gateway" which to me sounds like a ground station that bridges the satellite and mobile capabilities - the phones certainly don't have satellite capabilities if they are standard handsets so either they are delivering mobile direct from orbit or they are using a gateway and if they are using a gateway then I believe the solution is as I thought it was.

EDIT: OK, so the register article suggests the space-to-land gateway is to connect the satellite to the mobile network rather than to the end device. I hadn't seen the NTN standard before so this seems to explain it in which case I cancel my previous statement and it does appear it is a direct connection from handset to satellite - so, interesting solution and will others follow the same path or are Vodafone a lone wolf due to the costs involved.

Although "standard" smartphones will work with the satellite service, these must be models compliant with the non-terrestrial network (NTN) capabilities specified in Release 17 and 18 of the 3GPP standards, which older phones might not be, but all devices going forwards will.

Edited by ian72 (Thu 30-Jan-25 15:06:58)

In reply to a post by greenglide:

There is also a story about O2 (?) using a Starlink connection as the backhaul for a new phone mast at Craster - previously a mobile not spot. Less high tech really but probably more useful to most people.

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/people/...

As per the article the Starlink connection is supplying a temporary 4G service until the connection to fibre backhaul after which 5G will be available. The printed story in the newspaper adds that Vodafone will bring their services to the mast once the fibre is connected but that EE have no plans as yet.

Because of the topography there was only an area of roughly one mile square without signal but that area probably sees about a quarter of a million visitors each year. We still have a BT phone box because of the necessity for visitors to be able to contact the emergency services if required (although that box will obviously only have a limited life now).

Walking the dog I can see that the civils have been done and the ducting is currently lying in a trench waiting for the fibre to arrive.

It is not quite true though.

For years it has been possible, whilst on an aircraft or ship, to use a standard mobile phone to make a call through an on-board pico cell which is then routed via satellite.

Mobile connectivity has been backhauled across satellite links for 25 years.

Backhauled yes but this suggests the satellite is actually delivery the 4G/5G connection directly to the mobile.

Strangely it reckons that there are currently no fibres currently at the village but Craster has a VDSL cabinet which surely requires a fibre?

Nothing to do with Starlink. From Clive's link:

AST SpaceMobile, Vodafone’s satellite partner, is behind the BlueBird satellites enabling the service.

Founder and CEO Abel Avellan said: “This historic milestone marks another significant step forward in our partnership with Vodafone. Together, we have achieved several world firsts in space-based broadband connectivity.”

Operating from low Earth orbit, Vodafone’s new satellite service is the only one currently capable of providing mobile broadband directly to standard smartphones.

The technology is designed to complement Vodafone’s existing mobile and fibre networks, extending coverage to hard-to-reach locations such as mountains, rural areas, and even offshore locations.

There's also a photo of Tom Peake at a Vodafone event in the UK with a Vodafone satellite dish behind them.

Could the connection be Newbury or other location dish to satellite <> satellite <> hilltop dish plus connected mast? This just requires a power supply to the mountain site.

Apologies, problem with 2 similar articles as the O2 one I think is Starlink. Brain gets confused.

FTTP fibre supply is generally completely independent of VDSL cabinets.

No need to apologise. I just picked you to reply to as yours seemed the most relevant post. Nobody seemed to have spotted the details I quoted.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

FTTP fibre supply is generally completely independent of VDSL cabinets.

FTTP isn't used for mobile backhaul either.

However, FTTP splitters and FTTC cabinets *do* connect back to the same fibre aggregation nodes; and those same fibre aggregation nodes can now be used to deliver leased lines which mobile operators could use for backhaul.

So what matters is whether there's a fibre aggregation node near the FTTC cabinet, i.e. whether the spine network was extended to that location.

In reply to a post by greenglide:

Strangely it reckons that there are currently no fibres currently at the village but Craster has a VDSL cabinet which surely requires a fibre?

It's an AIO cabinet which is fed from the head-end exchange (presumably Alnwick). This has supplied VDSL to the village for several years now. The ducting for the Vodafone connection to the mast is being run from a manhole (with a GPO label on the cover IIRC) on the footpath along the back of the Tourist Information Centre and Piper's Pitch but I have no idea whether that will be fed from the AIO cabinet or straight from the connection to the head-end.

The delay in getting the connection is just part of the long-running saga of m'learned friends acting for the County Council (on whose land the mast is situated) and the mast operator finding every possible opportunity to raise points at issue and then take an eternity to resolve each point. I am presuming that the the addition of the OR legals once the connection was mooted will have only added to the devil's brew. It is not the lack of fibre that is the problem, it is the lack of will to connect the fibre. It has been over 20 years since the community first started the campaign to get mobile reception in the village.

Was reading the other day about a very similar endeavour in the states using T-Mobile and Starlink…

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/28/ios-18-3-starli...

So different space segment operator, mobile network operator and continent - but essentially the same direct (LEO) satellite to handset tech

In reply to a post by ian72:

I may have mixed up the 2 stories as I have seen both today.

So, it appears Vodafone have actually got their own satellites in orbit that are delivering a 4G/5G signal to the ground - but they also state "space-to-land gateway" which to me sounds like a ground station that bridges the satellite and mobile capabilities - the phones certainly don't have satellite capabilities if they are standard handsets so either they are delivering mobile direct from orbit or they are using a gateway and if they are using a gateway then I believe the solution is as I thought it was.

EDIT: OK, so the register article suggests the space-to-land gateway is to connect the satellite to the mobile network rather than to the end device. I hadn't seen the NTN standard before so this seems to explain it in which case I cancel my previous statement and it does appear it is a direct connection from handset to satellite - so, interesting solution and will others follow the same path or are Vodafone a lone wolf due to the costs involved.

Although "standard" smartphones will work with the satellite service, these must be models compliant with the non-terrestrial network (NTN) capabilities specified in Release 17 and 18 of the 3GPP standards, which older phones might not be, but all devices going forwards will.

AFAIK Samsung, Pixel, and Huawei, all have 'standard' phones that allow direct connection from handset to satellite with no other base station or other such equipment involved, these are their 'flagship' phones, ie. S25, Pixel9, mate60 but the chips will be finding there way into other models. What is needed is agreements between the phone makers and mobile operators to enable the service to work.

The Pixel 9 only has that in the USA. (I have one.)

It's also possible the US and UK specs are different, as they are for many major brands.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

The Pixel 9 only has that in the USA. (I have one.)

It's also possible the US and UK specs are different, as they are for many major brands.

From Googles blog it appears the hardware is on all Pixel 9's, but it seems to only be enabled in the US, unless I'm reading it wrong.

Some clarification from an email recived from OFCOM this morning:-

https://ofcom.cmail19.com/t/i-l-fddtujl-ilhduhjdti-t/

The address may look odd, but it is correct.

Cheers!

Also
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/03/ofcom-...