Vodafone has announced a partnership with Project Kuiper, the low Earth orbit satellite constellation of Amazon, to expand its 4G and 5G networks in Europe and Africa.

Vodafone said that the high-bandwidth, low-latency satellites would be used to connect mobile base stations in remote locations to its core networks in a move which promises to eliminate the need for fixed wireless or cable-based links.

The companies added that Project Kuiper's high-speed broadband services would be delivered to under-served communities around the world while also providing services such as back-up connections to businesses.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone group chief executive, said: “Vodafone’s work with Project Kuiper will provide mobile connectivity to many of the estimated 40 per cent 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.”

Amazon is preparing to test two prototype satellites in the coming months before starting to deploy production satellites in 2024. Amazon expects to begin beta testing Project Kuiper services with select customers by the end of 2024, providing competition to firms such as Starlink and OneWeb.

One of Vodafone’s major rivals, Spain’s Telefonica, last month announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide internet connections to rural and remote customers.

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