AT&T, Google & Vodafone Invest $155M in AST SpaceMobile to Advance Satellite-to-Phone Services

AST SpaceMobile has secured US$155 million in fresh investment from AT&T, Google, and Vodafone to boost its satellite-to-cellular connectivity efforts, alongside an additional US$51.5 million from a senior-secured credit facility—bringing total new funding to about US$206.5 million.

The investment adds to AST SpaceMobile's existing backers; Vodafone was already an investor, while AT&T and Google are newly participating. The company also issued a public offering of US$100 million in common stock in conjunction with the funding round.

A prime focus of AST is its BlueWalker3 satellite, currently in low Earth orbit (LEO). This satellite has already demonstrated the capability to support 2G, 4G LTE, and 5G calls with data rates of around 14 Mbps per 5 MHz channel under certain conditions. AST plans to launch five more satellites in the first quarter of 2024 to scale its service.

To enable commercial service delivery, AST will use spectrum licensed by AT&T: including portions of the 850 MHz A & B Blocks, as well as some slices of AT&T's lower 700 MHz B and C Blocks. These licensing deals are critical, according to AST, for enabling direct-to-phone connectivity without requiring specialized receivers.

The market for this type of service is heating up. AST has forged partnerships with dozens of mobile network operators globally to potentially extend its direct-to-cellular services. Competing efforts include Lynk Global and SpaceX, each pushing into satellite-direct services for standard mobile phones.

Analysts project growth in satellite-IoT connections from 2.8 million in 2018 to over 20 million by 2027, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (~28%) as demand for connectivity in remote areas, logistics, industrial automation and utility monitoring increases.

AST's service could help expand coverage to unserved or poorly served regions, reduce dependency on terrestrial towers, and complement 5G networks by extending reach into remote, rural, or otherwise disconnected geographies. Challenges remain—spectrum regulation, device compatibility, and latency—but with renewed funding, AST is better positioned to address them.