Telco 2degrees aims for a 2026 launch with AST SpaceMobile - with 4G/5G broadband from mega satellites

2degrees has partnered with America's AST SpaceMobile to extend mobile coverage across New Zealand through space-based cellular broadband technology, with services expected to launch in 2026. This after 2degrees started trials with competing US Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity provider Lynk as announced in April 2023.

Lynk isn't out of the telco's orbit, 2degrees' head of communications told interest.co.nz. 

"We still have a partnership with Lynk. We’ve always known there would be a number of providers and different solutions and we’ll continue to explore them all," Reade said.

Late last year, One NZ got its Satellite TXT service off the ground, claiming a global first. The telco decided to go with Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink LEO service, and while only short messaging service (SMS) texting is available currently, One NZ hopes to have basic data and voice coming later this year.

It looks like 2degrees could have a sharper offering next year though, as AST SpaceMobile will have 4G LTE and 5G broadband. 

"This partnership will extend our network reach and provide customers connectivity in places that our cellular network doesn't serve. Our goal is to provide reliable mobile internet connectivity beyond the limits of existing infrastructure," Mark Callander, 2degrees chief executive, said in the media release accompanying the announcement.

Technically, the AST SpaceMobile service differs from SpaceX Starlink in a number of respects. Starlink uses clusters of small satellites:

In comparison, the AST SpaceMobile BlueWalker prototype array is much larger as can be seen from this picture with people around the satellite for scale:

Initial service will be through AST SpaceMobile's newer BlueBird five-satellite constellation, each craft having arrays that measure approximately 64 square metres when folded out after deployment at 700 kilometre orbit.

The BlueBird mega-satellites act like remote radio heads in the sky, with mobile telcos handling the core network functionality for 4G and 5G, just like with their terrestrial cellular service. 2degrees can also use its own radio-frequency spectrum with AST SpaceMobile.

Space launch schedule timings are uncertain, but it may be that 2degrees can use AST SpaceMobile's upcoming Block 2 BlueBird satellites in 2026. These are even bigger with 223 square metre arrays, and said to deliver 120 megabits per second data speeds, with latency of 40 to 50 millisecond, and have up to 40 MHz of bandwidth per beam - which is not too dissimilar from terrestrial network performance. 

The initial BlueBird service looks set to be more modest however, at 20/10 Mbps.

Satellite service requires Earth bound facilities, and 2degrees will spend money on a dedicated ground station in New Zealand. The location of the station is undecided, but Reade said it's unlikely to be Warkworth, north of Auckland, where other satellite providers have facilities already.

One NZ rebranded from Vodafone NZ in 2022; AST SpaceMobile meanwhile has been working with One NZ's former owner, Vodafone Group in Europe to set up satellite service. AT&T, Bell Mobile, Rakuten are other telcos that have signed up with AST SpaceMobile. Adding to that, 2degrees is a Starlink Business reseller.

There will be regulatory approvals ahead for 2degrees and AST SpaceMobile, and the 2026 launch is only "anticipated" at this stage.