UK's first video call via satellite made from Welsh mountain
2025-01-30
Category: news

Vodafone has carried out what it says is the UK's first satellite-enabled smartphone video call.The company says the call - made from a mountain in Ceredigion, west Wales - is part of the process of adding satellite connectivity to its UK phone network by the end of the year, and across Europe in 2026.Vodafone boss Margherita Della Valle says it could eliminate "not spots" - places without mobile signal - which regulator Ofcom estimates can be found in 9% of the UK.However, experts say regulatory hurdles will need to be cleared and many more satellites launched for the service to take off.
And astronomers warn the increasing number of satellites in orbit is making it harder to study space.
How does it work?
Satellite connectivity enables ordinary phones to operate as normal with full internet access when there is otherwise no coverage. Many iPhones and Android devices already have emergency satellite connectivity, but it is currently text message based.Vodafone says it has now gone further with a video call between a company engineer in a not spot in west Wales, and Ms Della Valle. "It's a really important moment because we are opening the door to universal connectivity, to connecting people in the UK, wherever they are," Ms Della Valle said.She likened the satellites to "antennas in the sky" but said they would not replace existing masts and towers - instead providing an additional layer of coverage.Phone users will not require any extra equipment, the firm says, as it expands the service. It does not yet know what the costs will be for customers.It has partnered with a satellite company called AST SpaceMobile, which has relatively few satellites in orbit - Monday's test had to be carefully timed around one being in the right place, at the right time."The challenges really are the fact that it is a relatively new satellite company," said Luke Pearce, from analysts CCS Insight."They've got a few satellites up in the air as of last year, but they really need to build out a full constellation to be able to offer consistent coverage all of the time."Mr Pearce said the issue of how such satellite services would be regulated still needed to be resolved - something that also affects rival providers, such as Elon Musk's Starlink.Ofcom has previously said it plans to consult on the matter in "early 2025".
Is there space in space?
The prospect of more of the low earth satellites needed for mobile communications has been criticised by astronomers."The international astronomy community is concerned by the rapidly increasing number of satellites in low Earth orbit, which can contaminate astronomical images by leaving bright light streaks in them,"  the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark Sky told the BBC.Others have raised similar concerns, with astrophysicist Dr Megan Argo saying the increase in satellites is "making it increasingly difficult to study the universe outside our own atmosphere"."As well as being bright visually, satellites are relatively warm so shine in the infrared, and transmit radio signals down to Earth that are increasingly obscuring our view of the universe across several regions of the electromagnetic spectrum," she told the BBC.And she said there was a critical consequence of this - making it harder to spot asteroids."Spotting potentially hazardous asteroids that might one day impact the Earth is important work, but is becoming more difficult as more and more satellites are launched," she said.But astronaut Tim Peak - who joined Vodafone for the video call - said there was "plenty of room" in space for more satellites."What we need to think about in the future, with space becoming so useful to us, is how we manage and regulate the number of satellites going up there, how we safely bring them back down or take them away from the planet, and how we protect the space environment whilst using it for the benefit of everybody back on Earth," he said.