Verizon Inks Deal With AST SpaceMobile to Provide Space-based Cellular Service

The deal expands Verizon’s coverage and enables it to compete directly with T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service with SpaceX’s Starlink.

A Verizon store in Superior, Colo., on July 27, 2017. Rick Wilking/Reuters

Verizon customers will have the option for space-based cellular broadband service beginning in 2026 through a commercial agreement the company signed on Oct. 8 with AST SpaceMobile.

AST SpaceMobile of Midland, Texas, will combine its space-based low Earth orbit cellular network with Verizon’s 850 megahertz spectrum to provide customers with expanded cellular coverage. Verizon customers who are out of range of their carrier’s communications towers will be able to connect directly to AST SpaceMobile’s satellite-to-cellular technologies without the need for special equipment or modified phones, AST SpaceMobile said.

Abel Avellan, founder, chairman, and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said the definitive commercial agreement with Verizon advances the company’s mission to deliver space-based cellular broadband coverage across the continental United States. AST SpaceMobile’s space-based broadband architecture works similarly to land-based cell towers, the company said.

“The agreement will extend the scope of Verizon’s 850 MHz premium low-band spectrum into areas of the U.S. that would benefit from the ubiquitous reach of space-based broadband technology,” Avellan said.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The agreement comes on the heels of testing milestones that saw the two companies connect voice and video calls and RSC messaging on unmodified smartphones from Texas to New Jersey through one of AST SpaceMobile’s satellites.

AST SpaceMobile currently has five BlueBird satellites in low Earth orbit. Each satellite, built at AST SpaceMobile’s 185,000 square-foot manufacturing and testing facility, has a communications array of about 700 square feet.

Srini Kalapala, Verizon’s senior vice president of technology and product development, said the partnership with AST SpaceMobile is a significant step forward in the company’s mission to seamlessly connect customers around the 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,” Kalapala said.

“By 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.”

The deal not only expands Verizon’s coverage area, it also provides direct competition to T-Mobile’s T-Satellite cellular phone service, a partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink. T-Satellite provides coverage to more than 500,000 square miles in the U.S. that lack coverage by any of the major telecommunications carriers, T-Mobile said.

Verizon on Oct. 8 also announced that it had acquired Starry, a fixed wireless broadband provider serving large apartment complexes and other dense multi-dwelling units (MDUs) in Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and the District of Columbia. Starry serves nearly 100,000 customers. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of next year pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon said.

Joe Russo, Verizon’s executive vice president and president of global networks and technology, said the acquisition extends the company’s ability to provide mobile and broadband services in urban communities using Starry’s unique millimeter wave technology that provides ultra-fast data transfers.

“Starry has demonstrated a unique and efficient approach to delivering high-speed internet in complex MDU environments,” Russo said. “By integrating their technology and expertise, we will accelerate our fixed wireless access capabilities, giving millions of new customers a powerful and affordable broadband option. This architecture is less expensive to build, quicker to deploy, and uniquely addresses the complexities of urban settings where we can leverage our existing fiber and mmWave assets.”