(Credit: AST SpaceMobile)
AST SpaceMobile is still playing catchup to SpaceX’s cellular Starlink system, but the company is racing to kick off its own service in about six months.
AST CEO Abel Avellan mentioned the aggressive timeline in an earnings call on Monday. “The idea is to have a beta service sometime by the end of this year. A commercial service fully open for consumers sometime during early 2026,” he said. “Our plan is for this service to be text, internet, data, and access to applications like video conferencing.”
SpaceX’s cellular Starlink system is already available to T-Mobile customers through a free beta program. In July, the carrier plans on officially launching the service as “T-Satellite,” which will cost $10 per month for most consumers, including those on rival carriers.
In contrast, AST has only launched five “BlueBird” satellites for its own system when it needs at least 45 to 60 to begin offering continuous service across the US and other markets. In addition, the company still has to secure regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission before it can commercially offer the service to customers through key partners, including AT&T and Verizon.
But in Monday’s earnings call, AST provided some details on how it plans to close the gap with SpaceX as both companies vie to provide satellite connectivity to cellular dead zones. In its presentation, the company said it plans on conducting five satellite launches over the next six to nine months. (The first launch, carrying a prototype next-generation BlueBird satellite, is scheduled for July though India's space agency.)
In addition, AST anticipates “orbital launches every one to two months on average during 2025 and 2026," it said. The company is also on track to manufacture 40 second-generation BlueBird satellites for this year, "for over 50 satellites in total."
However, AST executives declined to say how many satellites will be flown during each upcoming rocket launch. So the size of the initial constellation is unclear. That said, during the call, the company noted it only needs 25 satellites to start offering “non-continuous” service to users, meaning it can start generating revenue, but at the expense of coverage gaps.
In other words, it looks like the company is betting it can operate around 25 satellites by the end of this year or early 2026. During the call, AST executives also said the company is paying more for its BlueBird satellites, partly because it's trying to move quickly to build the constellation.
“The demand signals we are receiving is to get the service to market as fast as possible,” said AST President Scott Wisniewski. “So what you’re seeing is essentially a little bit of pull forward on launch, in a time when launch is harder to get, so we spent a little bit more than anticipated to get the timeline moving fast.”
The other issue is that Trump’s tariffs are raising the costs for the raw materials to build the satellites. Each BlueBird satellite now costs up to $23 million to manufacture and launch, up from $19 million to $22 million. In a recent FCC filing, AST also noted its longer-term goal is operate 243 satellites by 2028.