The head of Vodafone said the sector must focus less on innovation hype and more on coordination and safeguards as satellite services become integrated with terrestrial networks
In sum – what to know:
Satellite rules urged – Vodafone’s CEO called for clear safety and security standards to avoid fragmented risk-taking and protect customer trust.
European operators align on AST SpaceMobile – Carriers in ten markets, including Orange and Telefonica, will cooperate under the Satellite Connect Europe initiative.
Vodafone Group’s CEO Margherita Della Valle urged the telecom industry to establish clear rules for satellite communications, as the operator’s satellite venture secured agreements with major European carriers.
Speaking during the opening keynote at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, Della Valle said the sector must focus less on innovation hype and more on coordination and safeguards as satellite services become integrated with terrestrial networks.
“These rules need to be applied to how mobile operators use the sky to add new services. But let me start by saying that we don’t need new ideas and neither do we need better engineers as an industry. All this we have plenty of and it’s not even about money,” Della Valle said during her keynote.
“What we do need, first and foremost, is clear safety and security rules for satellite communications so that our customers are protected, and individual operators cannot independently accept excessive risks, potentially breaking the trust for the whole industry,” she said.
“And we need to push for international collaboration on these rules as far as we possibly can. We have the technology companies, we have the investors and the policy makers. Let us work together to avoid a wild west in the sky disrupting the earth instead of enriching it,” she added.
Alongside the policy call, Vodafone announced that operators across ten European markets, including Orange and Telefonica, have agreed to collaborate on satellite connectivity using AST SpaceMobile satellites under the Satellite Connect Europe initiative.
“This new frontier in communication is both exciting and possible. We need to work together to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, all of the time, from the seabed all the way up to the stars,” Della Valle added.
