- Vodafone IoT is integrating satellite into its IoT offerings
- It’s partnered with Iridium and Skylo to get access to satellites
- And it’s tapping NB-IoT spectrum, which is working out well
Telecom operators have been offering Internet of Things (IoT) services for years, but they were never particularly exciting. Now, more telcos are integrating satellite-based connectivity into their IoT offerings, and the topic is suddenly hot.
One case in point is Vodafone IoT’s business.
In November 2025, Vodafone announced a partnership to integrate Iridium’s low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites into Vodafone IoT’s offering.
And in January 2026, Vodafone IoT also announced a partnership to integrate Skylo’s technology into Vodafone IoT’s offering.
Erik Brenneis, CEO of Vodafone IoT, said Skylo is “kind of like a wholesaler of satellite networks,” because it connects to different LEO satellites and then turns those into one network, which it makes commercially available to companies such as Vodafone IoT.
As a side note, Vodafone’s mobile business has a partnership with AST SpaceMobile to eventually provide broadband services for consumers via AST’s LEO constellation. “As soon as AST has an IoT satellite offering, then we will immediately explore the opportunity with AST as well,” said Brenneis.
Why is satellite IoT taking off now?
Brenneis said there are a few reasons why satellite IoT has not been ready for prime time until now. The hardware ecosystem was not mature; the partnership arrangements were complex; batteries and their attendant power sources were a difficult problem to solve; and the whole thing was extremely expensive.
But LEO satellites have propelled the IoT ecosystem, providing much lower latency and less drain on batteries because the connections don’t have to travel as far back and forth from Earth to the satellites. Also, satellite operators have tapped into narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) spectrum to facilitate direct communication.
“I would say satellite has really gotten the focus of IoT customers and also ourselves,” said Brenneis.
In fact, according to a survey of 600 IoT professionals, conducted in July and August 2025 by Viasat and Vanson Bourne, organizations are increasingly integrating satellite into their deployments. More than half of the survey respondents (55%) reported using satellite in their IoT estates, up from last year when 41% of respondents said they used satellite for IoT.
“Satellite connectivity is becoming an increasingly integral part of modern IoT systems, stated the Viasat report.
Brenneis said there are still not the super big IoT rollouts like Vodafone IoT provides via terrestrial networks, where there might be millions of connections for one project. “We're not seeing that yet,” he said. “But satellite is complementing existing projects.”
And there are some projects that are particularly suited for satellite IoT such as cattle tracking in rural areas, tracking shipping containers on the high seas and updating automotive software in places where there is no mobile network.
The genesis of Vodafone IoT
The Vodafone Group has been doing IoT since 2009. But in December 2024 it carved out Vodafone IoT as a subsidiary. Vodafone IoT is headquartered in the U.K., and it has additional locations in the U.S., Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy. “This is a focused company to serve the IoT market,” said Brenneis. The IoT business has more than 9,000 customers.
Vodafone decided to split out its IoT business because it engages with customers a bit differently than the mobile business of Vodafone Group. Its IoT service becomes part of the customer's product, integrated with their electricity meters, for example.
“We thought that bringing all the resources together in one company would give us bigger focus, which now one year after we have carved out, has proven true,” Brenneis said. “We're growing nicely, and we're also able to provide services everywhere in the world, also outside of the classic Vodafone footprint. The United States is the best example. Vodafone doesn't have a mobile network in the U.S., but we have a Vodafone IoT company there.”
He also said the IoT market in general is booming, partly driven by artificial intelligence. AI needs more data from machines to keep feeding its large language models. “That's significantly driving our business,” he said.
The biggest segments for IoT in general are 1) automotive for emergency calls and over-the-air software updates; 2) the energy and utility segment for metering; and 3) the medical segment to remotely monitor patients and medical devices.