This is a continuation of our Alien Invader series about satellite-based carrier-level services.
AST SpaceMobile is a stock-publicly traded unicorn enterprise via a SPAC merger with a valuation of USD $1.392B. Revenue was projected at more than USD$1B in the year following full deployment (originally 2024). An EBITDA margin of more than 90% is projected at scale. Revenue is based on relationships with global carriers including AT&T, Vodafone, Rakuten Mobile, Orange, and MOUs with Telstra, Telefonica, Liberty, and others. AST SpaceMobile states relationships total 1.3B existing carrier subscribers. The ramp on revenue for direct cellular to satellite by AST SpaceMobile is steeper than the ramp currently being achieved by SpaceX’s StarLink constellation.
Regulatory approval in August 2022 by the USA FCC covered technology tests using 3GPP frequencies, Q and V links, and unmodified devices in Texas and Hawaii. In Japan testing will be performed with Rakuten Mobile. Tests will be performed using the ~5 minutes of coverage time in targeted cellular service hexes. Total regulatory approvals for market access as of May 2022 only covered six equatorial countries.
Our next post will continue our observations about AST SpaceMobile. It will discuss BlueWalker series of satellites.
If you’re facing an Alien Invasion and your marketplace and you’d like some tips on how to fight back let’s talk.
On the other hand, if you’d like to swoop in and steal your competitor’s lunch we should talk as well.
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