Telefónica Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of Telefónica (TEF), announced on Monday the launch of Vivo Satellite thanks to a deal with Starlink Mobile, the constellation of satellites with direct connection to devices owned by SpaceX.
Starlink will act as a extension and complement to Vivo's terrestrial mobile network. Customers benefiting from this service, potentially up to 50 million, will be able to send and receive messages and audio (WhatsApp, RCS, SMS, iMessage, and Google Messages), access maps (Google Maps and Apple Maps), and make calls through applications from anywhere with a clear view of the sky, in areas without mobile signal coverage.
Devices will connect directly to the satellite constellation when in areas without their own coverage, and access will be free during a promotional period: 12 months for individuals and 3 months for businesses.
This is the second subsidiary of the group after VMO2 to reach an agreement with Starlink.
Buy a 10% stake in OGA
On the other hand, Telefónica has completed the purchase of a 10% stake in OGA, the Seville-based company specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) for the optimisation of critical processes in the industrial sector focusing on logistics, retail, energy, health, and Defence. Founded 19 years ago, OGA is a deep-tech company with dual-use solutions based in Seville (Camas) and an office in New York that specialises in turning data into real decision-making capability for complex and critical mission environments, using artificial intelligence (AI), mathematical optimisation, modelling, and simulations.
With a team of more than 75 highly qualified professionals made up of mathematicians, statisticians, engineers, and data scientists, OGA has a Technology Advisory Board of 14 members comprising professors and researchers that works to accelerate the transfer of knowledge from the university to the business environment. The Seville-based company has been working with Telefónica as a service provider for the past two years.
