AST SpaceMobile is Europe’s D2D “frontrunner”
July 17, 2026

By Chris Forrester



AST SpaceMobile has a European joint-venture with Vodafone. Bloomberg suggests that the AST/Vodafone joint venture is the “frontrunner” for upcoming Direct-to-Device (D2D) services over Europe and beyond. The joint-venture is Satellite Connect Europe.

In May, the European Commission (EC) proposed reserving a third of the 2 GHz frequency band suitable for direct-to-device satellite communication services for government use, which can only be served by IRIS˛ (the EU-backed satellite network in low-Earth orbit still under development by the ‘SpaceRISE’ consortium).


Another third would be for commercial services offered by EU-based entrants and the rest available to all bidders, domestic and foreign.

Brussels says the new framework will foster competition in direct-to-device satellite communications while protecting critical infrastructure and avoiding overdependence on foreign providers.

“It does make sense for the commission to be moving in this direction. The situation has moved significantly since the last time they were dealing with the issue, ten years ago,” says Rodolfo Zontini, manager at Brussels-based consultancy Logos Public Affairs. “The EU now has a program dedicated to secure connectivity, which they didn’t have a decade ago,” Bloomberg quoted.

Speaking at a Brussels conference last month, SpaceX company executives accused the EC’s regulators of dividing the available spectrum into “virtually unusable sub-divided parts,” arguing the proposal is inconsistent with international spectrum rules and unfairly targets Starlink, SpaceX’s internet-from-space business.

SpaceX also warned that reserving spectrum for IRIS˛ could leave Europe without a globally competitive direct-to-device satellite service. Deutsche Telekom has a SpaceX partnership in the US via its controlling stake in the T-Mobile cellular service.

But there is a potential problem for the AST/Vodafone consortium, suggests Bloomberg. “Ironically, the 50/50 ownership structure technically makes it a non-European company. Under the proposal currently discussed in Brussels, it would need to adjust its ownership structure.”