UK-based Vodafone Group and Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications initiative, have announced a ‘strategic collaboration’ through which Vodafone and Vodacom Group will utilise Project Kuiper’s network to extend the reach of 4G/5G connectivity in Europe and Africa.

A press release noted that Vodafone and Vodacom both plan to use Project Kuiper’s high-bandwidth, low-latency satellite network to extend 4G/5G services to areas that may otherwise be challenging and prohibitively expensive to serve via traditional fibre or microwave solutions. Project Kuiper will connect geographically dispersed cellular antennas back to the companies’ core telecom networks, with it claimed that this will enable Vodafone and Vodacom to offer 4G/5G in more locations without the time and expense of building out fibre-based or fixed wireless links back to the core networks.

Vodafone, Vodacom and Project Kuiper will reportedly begin deploying services in Africa and Europe as Amazon’s production satellites come online. For its part, Amazon is preparing to test two prototype satellites in the coming months before starting to deploy production satellites in 2024. Meanwhile, Amazon expects to begin beta testing Project Kuiper services with customers by the end of 2024, and Vodafone and Vodacom plan to participate in that testing through this collaboration.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group’s CEO, said of the matter: ‘Vodafone’s work with Project Kuiper will provide mobile connectivity to many of the estimated 40% of the global population without internet access, supporting remote communities, their schools and businesses, the emergency services, and disaster relief. These connections will be complemented further through our own work on direct-to-smartphone satellite services.’