Vodafone to launch its first satellite internet technology lab at Malaga University this week
The head of the British telecom giant's innovation hub in the city said, "The aim is to offer broadband coverage anywhere on the planet: in the desert, in the middle of the ocean and, why not, even in the middle of empty Spain"
The audience at the major Sun&Tech Málaga 2025 conference in the city welcomed director of the Vodafone innovation hub Jesús Amores to the stage on Monday. There he presented the million-euro R&D project developed at the company's innovation centre in Malaga. "The aim is to offer broadband coverage anywhere on the planet: in the desert, in the middle of the ocean and, why not, even in the middle of empty Spain," he explained.
Amores presented Europe's first research centre dedicated to the development of integrated terrestrial and low-orbit satellite-based mobile broadband services, with the aim of enabling customers to switch seamlessly between satellite and 4G/5G networks with their smartphones. Located at the company's innovation hub in Malaga, the project was launched this summer, with an initial grant from the Spanish space agency. Amores announced that the first satellite validation laboratory opens on 2 October at the Malaga University (UMA) School of Technical Telecommunications Engineering. AST SpaceMobile (which is building the first global cellular broadband network in space) and the UMA are Vodafone's main partners in this venture, along with other technology companies and external researchers invited to participate. Together, they foster a new European ecosystem of combined connectivity between satellites and terrestrial networks. This is a definitive boost for a centre that has half a thousand employees in Malaga alone. "This type of project allows us to both retain talent and repatriate it: we offer a career that does not stagnate, but continues growing," Amores said.
With this initiative, Vodafone is working towards its goal of offering universal mobile coverage to its 340 million customers in 15 countries, as well as to its network partners in 45 other markets. The company has the ambition of becoming a leader in the introduction of direct satellite connectivity to smartphones in Europe from the end of 2025 and the start of 2026. Another goal is the creation of a satellite gateway that the centre's director hopes will also be based in Malaga.
The major technology event was made possible thanks to the sponsorship of Malaga city council, Malaga provincial authority and CaixaBank DayOne, as well as the collaboration of Universidad Europea, Betancourt, EY GDS Spain, Malaga CF and Utamed.
