Press Launch
Virgin Media O2 has in the present day switched on O2 Satellite tv for pc, a brand new satellite-to-mobile service powered by Starlink Direct to Cell, marking a significant step ahead in extending cellular connectivity throughout the UK.
This makes Virgin Media O2 the primary operator within the UK and Europe to launch satellite tv for pc powered information providers, enabling clients to remain related in areas with no conventional cellular protection, often called ‘not-spots’.
The service boosts Virgin Media O2’s UK landmass protection from 89% to 95%, delivering a protection uplift equal to an space round two thirds the dimensions of Wales.
O2 Satellite tv for pc has been designed to enhance O2’s current cellular community and clients will join robotically when conventional mobile protection is unavailable. It will assist folks keep related when travelling or participating in actions reminiscent of mountain climbing, climbing, water sports activities and crusing, providing higher peace of thoughts in rural, coastal and different distant places.
In addition to extending protection into not-spots, O2 Satellite tv for pc supplies extra resilience and acts as a back-up, serving to clients retain connectivity within the uncommon occasion of a neighborhood mobile community outage the place protection is totally unavailable.
At launch, O2 Satellite tv for pc helps textual content messaging and information throughout apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Google Maps and extra, offering an extra layer of reassurance when clients transfer past terrestrial cellular networks. The service is initially obtainable to clients with the newest Samsung smartphones*, with help for different gadgets, producers and apps to be launched quickly.
The service is the results of a UK-first partnership with SpaceX, utilizing Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit satellites to ship connectivity direct to cellular gadgets utilizing O2’s licensed cellular spectrum transmitted from area.
The launch of O2 Satellite tv for pc follows profitable inside trials, with Virgin Media O2 workers already utilizing the know-how in real-world situations throughout the nation.
At launch, O2 Satellite tv for pc is offered as a £3-per-month bolt-on and will likely be included at no further price for all Final Plan clients within the close to future, benefiting tens of hundreds of customers.
Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, mentioned: “It is a defining second for UK cellular connectivity and a assertion of our intent to maintain innovating and guarantee our clients can keep related irrespective of the place they’re. By launching O2 Satellite tv for pc, we’ve turn out to be the primary operator in Europe to launch a space-based cellular information service that, in a single day, has introduced new cellular protection to an space round two thirds the dimensions of Wales for the primary time.
“We have already got the UK’s largest 5G+ footprint and we’re not standing nonetheless, investing closely this 12 months in our cellular community to offer O2 clients an excellent, dependable service that they will rely on.”
Baroness Lloyd, Minister for the Digital Financial system, mentioned: “It is a main achievement for the UK and demonstrates management in next-generation connectivity. Being the primary in Europe to launch direct-to-device satellite tv for pc information providers places the UK firmly on the forefront of cellular innovation. O2 Satellite tv for pc is a lift for development and connectivity and a robust sign of the UK’s management within the world digital economic system.”
Stephanie Bednarek, VP of Starlink Business Gross sales mentioned: “Delivering Starlink Direct to Cell in partnership with Virgin Media O2 underscores the significance of preserving folks related irrespective of the place they’re. For the primary time, tens of millions of individuals throughout the UK could have entry to information, voice and video via apps, and messaging in distant areas the place terrestrial protection isn’t obtainable.”
The swap on of O2 Satellite tv for pc follows Ofcom’s latest approval of the UK’s first licence for satellite-to-smartphone providers.
O2 was lately recognised as essentially the most improved cellular community throughout Europe in Umlaut Join’s Cellular Community Check, an impartial and complete benchmarking report. It was additionally awarded Greatest Cellular Community Protection on the Uswitch Telecoms Awards for the second 12 months in a row, which recognised the dimensions, attain and reliability of O2’s cellular community. In its full 12 months 2025 monetary outcomes, Virgin Media O2 reported that its 5G Standalone community now reaches 87% of the UK out of doors inhabitants – the biggest 5G Standalone footprint in the nation.
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