AST SpaceMobile advances service readiness ahead of initial space-based cellular broadband coverage in key global markets
AST SpaceMobile is advancing service readiness in key global markets before the end of 2026, including the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
“We are moving toward service with the partnerships, spectrum and network capabilities needed to bring cellular broadband from space into people’s everyday lives,” said Scott Wisnieswki, President of AST SpaceMobile. “Our Bluebird satellites, with the largest communications satellites ever deployed in low Earth orbit, carry capabilities beyond space-based cellular broadband connectivity. We are building a platform that can connect millions of people, help government keep our country safe and resilient, and support emerging applications in AI. That is the scale of the opportunity we are bringing into service.”
AST SpaceMobile now has more than 60 gateways deployed, installed, or in planning worldwide. The expansive ground network supports AST SpaceMobile’s global commercial ecosystem with over 60 mobile network operators who cover over 3 billion subscribers, bringing a third layer of connectivity directly into the mobile networks people already use.
AST SpaceMobile has strategic partnerships with AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten Mobile, Bell Canada, TELUS, and stc Group. These relationships provide a direct path to market through partners’ existing mobile services, enabling operators to extend coverage and offer new connectivity options to their subscribers.
Spectrum is a key component of this readiness. AST SpaceMobile combines strategic partner operators’ spectrum with access to mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum, targeting approximately 100 MHz of access in the United States. Its spectrum position includes access to 45 MHz of MSS mid-band spectrum in North America and priority rights to 60 MHz of S-band spectrum globally on a market-by-market basis.
The company’s satellite technology can tune across approximately 1,150 MHz of low- and mid-band frequencies globally, providing flexibility to serve different markets using available partner and satellite spectrum, subject to applicable regulatory approvals.
Supporting this service rollout, AST SpaceMobile’s ground network connects the company’s growing satellite constellation with mobile operators’ core networks, routing voice, video and broadband data between space and ground-based infrastructure, making it a key component of the end-to-end infrastructure required to deliver space-based cellular broadband connectivity through partners to people everywhere they work, live, and travel. This integration enables operators to extend their reach beyond the limits of terrestrial coverage while evolving alongside future 3GPP standards.
In the United States, the Company has already enabled over 3,000 coverage cells and expects to activate the roughly 5,600 cellular cells that cover the continuous United States before year-end. Enabling the remaining digital cells will establish the geographic footprint required to support initial, intermittent service across the contiguous United States and is a prerequisite for nationwide rollout.
During this initial phase, service will be available within the satellites’ coverage area. Additional spacecraft deployments will extend the duration and frequency of coverage as AST SpaceMobile advances toward continuous service.
BlueBird satellites are assembled, integrated, and tested at AST SpaceMobile’s facilities in Midland, Texas, with production now progressing through BlueBird 50. AST SpaceMobile now operates over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations facilities worldwide, supported by a 2,250+ workforce, and a technology platform backed by over 3,900 patent and patent-pending claims.
Service availability will expand as satellite capacity and ground infrastructure are deployed and network integration progresses, subject to applicable authorizations.
