(Credit: AST SpaceMobile)
The first batch of satellites from AST SpaceMobile are ready to beam cellular connectivity to as many as 2,000 phones in the US—if the FCC allows it.
The Texas-based startup launched five BlueBird satellites in September and is now asking the FCC for experimental authority to test those satellites on the AT&T and Verizon networks.
AST SpaceMobile wants to beta-test the satellites' cellular capabilities with up to 2,000 "end user handsets" for each carrier. It would also use the experimental authority to test using satellite connectivity to serve emergency responders.
"AST SpaceMobile will utilize the proposed testing to provide real-world data demonstrating that SCS (Supplemental Coverage from Space) services will complement AT&T's existing network while avoiding harmful interference to non-partner licensees and AT&T itself,” the company says in one of the filings.
(Credit: AST SpaceMobile)The goal is to beam the connectivity to unmodified, “off-the-shelf” mobile phones based in cellular dead zones. The filings note that each BlueBird satellite generates “hexagonal service link beams or cells on the ground with a 24 km radius and 48 km diameter.”
“One of AST SpaceMobile's highest priorities remains providing voice and data services to first responders reacting to natural and manmade disasters that damage or degrade terrestrial infrastructure,” one filing says. “In the coming months, with the [BlueBird satellites] nearing operational status, AST SpaceMobile will aggressively look for opportunities to provide such service pursuant to experimental authority, and hopes to simultaneously provide immediate help to first responders.”
The beta tests also promise to help AST SpaceMobile reach the goal of eventually supplying cellular broadband to phones across the globe. In an earnings call on Thursday, CEO Abel Avellan said all five BlueBird satellites are ready to begin operations after successfully deploying their communication arrays in space. Avellan expects the FCC to grant the experimental authority “imminently.”
In 2025 and 2026, the company also plans to launch up to 60 next-generation BlueBird satellites with an even larger communications array. The satellites will enable AST SpaceMobile to offer "full continuous service" for potentially hundreds of millions of cellphone customers.
However, satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar notes that AST SpaceMobile still needs FCC approval before it can launch and operate more BlueBird satellites. In August, the US regulator tabled the company’s request to deploy 243 more satellites.