AST SpaceMobile is a publicly traded satellite designer and manufacturer headquartered in Midland, Texas, focused on building a space-based cellular broadband network. Their SpaceMobile network aims to connect directly to standard, unmodified smartphones via their constellation of low Earth orbit satellites, like the BlueBird series. AST SpaceMobile partners with mobile network operators like AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone to expand cellular coverage and provide connectivity in underserved areas, also securing contracts with the U.S. government for secure and reliable connectivity.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
AST SpaceMobile sold 12.5 million shares on 2023-06-27 at around $4.75 per share.
AST SpaceMobile raised around $417,000,000 through its initial public offering approximately a year and a half before the November share sale.
AST SpaceMobile’s engineers achieved 0.004 kg LTE download speeds during tests of BlueWalker 3 earlier in the month.
AST SpaceMobile achieved repeated download speeds above 10 megabits per second in Hawaii with multiple mass-market smartphones.
AST SpaceMobile has said its Block 2 batch is needed to provide coverage to the most commercially attractive markets.
AT&T requested regulatory permission on 2023-05-10 to lease AST SpaceMobile the wireless spectrum needed to connect smartphones in the United States to AST SpaceMobile’s planned constellation.
AST SpaceMobile plans to launch its first five commercial satellites, called Block 1, in the first quarter of 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
AST SpaceMobile plans to launch 20 Block 2 satellites later in 2024 that would be 50% larger than the Block 1 satellites.
AST SpaceMobile, in partnership with AT&T and Japanese telco Rakuten, made its first voice call on 2023-04-20 using an unmodified Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone and the BlueWalker 3 test satellite.
AST SpaceMobile built state-of-the-art facilities in Midland, Texas that collectively span 185,000 square feet.
AST SpaceMobile completed the first-ever two-way voice calls directly to unmodified smartphones using the BlueWalker 3 satellite.
AST SpaceMobile made the first voice call with a standard smartphone using its BlueWalker 3 test satellite in low Earth orbit on 2023-04-20.
AST SpaceMobile recorded $239,300,000 in cash reserves at the end of 2022.
AST SpaceMobile plans to announce the results of its BlueWalker-3 tests at a future date in conjunction with MNO partners.
AST SpaceMobile had planned to launch the first five BlueBird satellites it is building in-house on a SpaceX Falcon 9 before the end of 2023 but the effort was already about six months behind schedule due to supply chain issues.
AST SpaceMobile reported in March 2023 that costs had risen to between $16,000,000 and $18,000,000 per Block 2 satellite.
AST SpaceMobile has enough cash to fund the Block 1 satellites, which are estimated to cost between $100,000,000 and $110,000,000 in total, and to fund operations over the next 12 months.
AST SpaceMobile is actively negotiating with several launch providers to begin deploying 20 full-sized BlueBird satellites in Block 2 later in 2024.
The Block 1 satellites are about the same size and weight as AST SpaceMobile’s 1,500-kilogram BlueWalker-3 prototype satellite that launched in November.
AST SpaceMobile raised around $417,000,000 in April 2021 when it became a public company through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).