Bank: AST SpaceMobile has 2 year head start on Starlink
June 10, 2026
Roth Capital Partners, a privately-held investment banking business, in a report on would-be satellite-to-cellular operator AST SpaceMobile, says it has roughly a two-year head start in the D2D market versus Starlink.
Roth Capital analyst Scott Searle says that while SpaceX’s (SPCX) space and satellite operations offer attractive economics and “validation of various communications opportunities,” the “reality of SpaceX has on occasion veered into the absurd.” Calix is the “direct beneficiary: of SpaceX’s Starlink as the constellation lacks both capacity and experience capabilities, but is accelerating a terrestrial competitive upgrade cycle, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
On D2D, Roth believes AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) has a “better mousetrap, a roughly two-year head start, and a powerful” mobile network operator partner channel relative to Starlink. The firm also believes Gogo (GOGO) is positioned to benefit from Starlink’s limited in-flight connectivity penetration as well as its “underappreciated” spectrum holdings. Starlink is not a real threat to fibre solutions, Roth contends. The firm argues the physics of the satellite constellations favour less dense suburban and rural environments.