US telcos AT&T and Verizon have followed Vodafone in Europe by testing video calls using AST SpaceMobile’s orbiting satellites. Verizon and AST successfully trialed a live video call between two mobile devices with one connected via satellite and the other connected via Verizon’s terrestrial network connection, whilst AT&T and AST also successfully completed another video […]

On the same week that analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald issued a favourable forecast for AST SpaceMobile, and helped by an advert at the February 9th Super Bowl, it emerged that AST does not need quite so many satellites to serve North America, pushing its share price up by 17.5 per cent to $31.14 per share. […]

Last week a Vodafone engineer, Rowan Chesmer, somewhere in the middle of Wales and very much in a dead zone for cellular connectivity, used an AST SpaceMobile satellite to send a video call to Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle and British astronaut Tim Peake. The demonstration led to some enthusiastic celebrations from AST themselves and […]

AST SpaceMobile has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the company Special Temporary Authority (STA) authorising testing service in the US. This approval enables AST SpaceMobile’s first five commercial BlueBird satellites, operating in low Earth orbit today, with unmodified smartphones in AT&T and Verizon premium low-band wireless spectrum supporting voice, full data, […]

Vodafone is prepared to go head-to-head this year against Elon Musk’s Starlink in the ‘battle for space connectivity’. AST SpaceMobile (AST) connectivity for the UK and the rest of Europe is likely to start later in 2025. Vodafone is currently using five AST SpaceMobile satellites for its test phone calls but AST will expand its […]

Investment bank ScotiaBank, a recent fan of satellite-to-cellular operator, has lowered its price target for AST SpaceMobile from its previous $44.70 to $40.20. The bank maintains its ‘Sector Outperform’ advice to clients for the stock. ScotiaBank’s price expectation is in the mid-range of the $15 to $53 currently suggested by other investment banks and analysts. […]

Analysts at Barclays have joined a growing number of researchers favouring AST SpaceMobile (AST). A report from the bank explains to investors the background to AST’s recent agreement with Ligado Networks, and says the additional L-band spectrum acquired by AST to be meaningful. The bank says that while the agreement, permitting access by AST to […]

AST SpaceMobile (AST), which is looking to establish a space-based ‘direct-to-cellular’ service, will use an Indian rocket to launch two of its Block-2 Bluebird satellites. The current information is that the launch could take place in March although this is not yet confirmed. What has been confirmed is that India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will […]

Ligado Networks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 6th. Ligado holds some extremely valuable ‘L-band’ spectrum over North America but is in the middle of a bitter dispute with the US government and has accused the US government of improperly blocking it from commercialising licensed spectrum through what it called one of the […]

Analysts at Deutsche Bank have re-examined prospects for would-be global telco ‘space tower’ business AST SpaceMobile (AST) as being worth $53 (€50.51) per share. They recommend clients ‘BUY’ AST. “We currently expect AST will begin broad commercial service in northern Latitudes during 2026. We expect that by 2030, AST will generate nearly $3 billion from […]