Verizon <\/b>has formalized a commercial agreement with AST SpaceMobile<\/b> to provide its direct-to-cell services to Verizon\u2019s customers starting in 2026, AST SpaceMobile announced Wednesday. <\/p>\n
This comes after last year, Verizon became a strategic partner of AST SpaceMobile with a $100 million commitment for satellite direct-to-cell service. Since then, the companies conducted video call trials together. They have also tested two-way RCS messaging, and a voice over LTE call. <\/p>\n
AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan commented that the agreement \u201cwill extend the scope of Verizon\u2019s 850 MHz premium low-band spectrum into areas of the U.S. that would benefit from the ubiquitous reach of space-based broadband technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
AST SpaceMobile also has commercial agreements with AT&T and Vodafone. The company\u2019s stock jumped nearly 7% on Wednesday with the announcement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis partnership with AST SpaceMobile is a good step forward in our mission to build a seamlessly connected world. We are not just filling in the map; we are creating a new paradigm of connectivity that will unlock the full potential of the digital age,\u201d said Srini Kalapala, senior vice president of Technology and Product Development at Verizon. \u201cBy integrating our expansive, reliable, robust terrestrial network with this innovative space-based technology, we are paving the way for a future where everything and everyone can be connected, regardless of geography.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verizon already operates in the direct-to-cell market, offering messaging on certain Android devices through a partnership with Skylo. Earlier this year, Verizon made a splash promoting the service with an ad campaign featuring astronaut Buzz Aldrin.<\/p>\n
AST SpaceMobile is preparing to start launching its Block 2 BlueBird satellites, with Avellan telling investors in August that it expects \u201cat least five\u201d launches by end of the first quarter of 2026. <\/p>\n
The direct-to-device market has been heating up in recent months with SpaceX\u2019s purchase of EchoStar\u2019s S-band and MSS spectrum licenses. AST SpaceMobile also made a recent purchase of L-band mobile satellite spectrum (MSS) spectrum rights from Ligado. Both of these purchases give SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile their own spectrum to provide service versus fully relying on sharing MNO spectrum. <\/p>\n
Last month at World Space Business Week, AST SpaceMobile President and Chief Strategy Officer Scott Wisniewski, said that SpaceX\u2019s spectrum purchase proves the value of the company\u2019s own spectrum purchase and the company\u2019s belief that \u201cMSS together with cellular is a fantastic way to go,\u201d adding that the company embraces the risk\/reward profile of the D2D sector. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverything we have thought has come to bear. The big satellite strategy is right. The cellular partner strategy is right; the cellular-plus MSS frequency strategy is right,\u201d Wisniewski said. \u201cWe love the risk. We think this is going to be a big market.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Verizon has formalized a commercial agreement with AST SpaceMobile to provide its direct-to-cell services to Verizon\u2019s customers starting in 2026, AST SpaceMobile announced Wednesday. This comes after last year, Verizon became a strategic partner of AST SpaceMobile with a $100 million commitment for satellite direct-to-cell service. Since then, the companies conducted video call trials together. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}