being to roll out the technology for their users across multiple countries from Europe in the following period of time and in 2026.
The coll was made between the CEO Margherita Della Valle and the company engineer Rowan Chesmer, who was located in the Welsh mountains, as in that secluded location it was no network signal. Della Valle was also accompanied by the British astronaut Tim Peake, watching the company’s space-to-land gateway from their UK HQ in Newbury in Western London.
This event was possible through the gateway which received the signals from a specific user’s smartphone via theri satellite connection which gave them access to the network.
Tim Peake told Reuters “Having spent six months on the space station living in a pretty remote and isolated environment, that ability to have a connection with family and friends is incredibly important,".
The company is investing in AST SpaceMobile as well as in AT&T, Google, Verizon, and others. Even more so, mobile operators and smartphone makers are competing to deploy satellite services in order to solve the network coverage gap.
It’s also worth mentioning that starting with the iPhone 14, Apple’s devices have been capable of using satellites for texting emergency services, sending messages to friends and family, and even sharing their location while using low-bandwidth connections.
However, Apple is not the only company that does this, Google and Samsung also offer those services. In the US, T-Mobile and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are now testing satellites that can provide text services and can also have voice and data added to them in the near future.
And, to this initiative, the latest models from Apple as well as some Android devices can be eligible to participate according to a statement made by T-Mobile.
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