The overwhelming message from last week’s Paris World Satellite Business Week was that of uncertainty over future demand. The sentiment was most pronounced in the Direct-2-Consumer (D2C) panel, where the operators talked of their plans and ambitions, but which were also tempered by anxieties of ‘if we build it will they come’. Scott Wisniewski, president […]

September 12th saw a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flawlessly launch five high-performance BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile from Cape Canaveral. The five craft, once they are deployed safely in their correct orbits which itself will take a few weeks, will then be tested by about 2,000 testers scattered around the Earth and then commence beta-test […]

AT&T’s CEO John Stankey has praised AST SpaceMobile in an interview on CNBC, saying: “Satellite constellations are going to be great. People are going to have always on connectivity, there will be no more [dead spaces] and this is why we are doing what we are doing with AST which will make sure that your […]

Deutsche Bank has looked again at how it values AST SpaceMobile, and has trebled its share price target from $22 (€19.82) per share to a spectacular $63. AST says SpaceX will launch five of its BlueBird Block 1 satellites on September 12th subject to the usual weather and technical considerations. The bank forecasts a revenue […]

Investment business Seraphim Space says that AST SpaceMobile has surged to a $10 billion (€9.05bn) market cap, making it the second highest–valued space company in the world, trailing only SpaceX. AST, a direct competitor to Starlink, launched its prototype BlueWalker 3 ‘cell tower’ satellite in 2022 and successfully tested its 5G direct–to–cell capability in 2023. […]

Elon Musk, in a Tweet on X, says he will “blast away the dead [cellular] zones,” helped by a launch on August 31st which added 26 Starlink satellites suitable for handling calls direct–to–cellular (DTC). The latest batch takes the number of DTC satellites to 168, with another launch likely later this week. However, waiting in […]

Analysts at investment company B. Riley have upped their share price guidance for would–be satellite 5G cellular operator AST SpaceMobile to $36 (from $26). The rating is the latest in a series of banks and investment houses which have boosted their advice to clients regarding AST. B. Riley held a symposium last week where AST’s […]

AST SpaceMobile has enjoyed a spectacular rise in its share price over the past few days as enthusiasm for its target satellite–to–cellular service despite only having one test satellite in orbit. However, and despite much criticism, SpaceX’s Starlink might well steal AST’s thunder with its own satellite–based connectivity for smartphones. Starlink is basing a portion […]

AST SpaceMobile already has five of its BlueBird satellites at Cape Canaveral waiting for launch by SpaceX. They are expected to be launched during the first half of September. It also has 17 of its advanced ‘Block 2’ satellites under construction at its Midland, Texas facility. CEO Abel Avellan told analysts during AST’s Q2 results […]

Would-be satellite constellation operator AST SpaceMobile received FCC approval on August 2nd (after the market had closed) to operate its V-band frequencies from its planned five ‘Block 1’ BlueBird craft. The five satellites are due to arrive at SpaceX’s Florida launch site imminently in readiness for a September launch. AST is planning a full internet […]