AT&T announces satellite-direct-to-phone deal with AST SpaceMobile

AT&T yesterday announced a “definitive commercial agreement” until 2030 with satellite-direct-to-phone provider AST SpaceMobile in a deal that the carrier giant hopes will allow it to provide coverage to outdoor subscribers, even when they are located beyond the coverage footprint of AT&T’s terrestrial networks.

AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have worked together since 2018 and previously had a Memorandum of Understanding, according to a press release announcing the new commercial agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the two companies will continue to collaborate on testing of satellite-direct-to-unmodified-cell-phone technology—efforts that last year resulted in the first voice call, text and video calls utilizing the platform.

Chris Sambar, AT&T’s head of network, soon will be appointed to the AST SpaceMobile board of directors, according to the press release.

“Space-based direct-to-mobile technology is designed to provide customers connectivity by complementing and integrating with our existing mobile network,” AT&T COO Jeff McElfresh said in a prepared statement. “This agreement is the next step in our industry leadership to use emerging satellite technologies to provide services to consumers and in locations where connectivity was not previously feasible.”

Satellite-direct-to-phone technology has generated significant interest in the wireless industry, which has long sought a way to fill outdoor coverage gaps that inevitably exist with any terrestrial-based network. With satellite-direct-to-phone technology, low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites from a provider like AST SpaceMobile act as “cellular towers in space” that are designed to provide outdoor coverage where terrestrial-system footprints don’t exist.

Indeed, this ability to use unmodified smart devices to connect to LEO satellites has made advances by AST SpaceMobile, Lynk and other players in the satellite-direct-to-phone arena some of the most closely monitored news in the communications industry. Not only does satellite-direct-to-phone technology promise to provide outdoor coverage beyond a terrestrial-network footprint, but it could greatly increase the reliability and resiliency associated with 4G and 5G—key characteristics to the critical-communications sector.

In addition, the business model employed by AST SpaceMobile, Lynk and SpaceX—partnering with commercial wireless carriers, instead of competing against them—has many industry analysts believing that the economics associated with the LEO-based services could be more economically sustainable than previous satellite services.

AST SpaceMobile is among the most ambitious of the satellite-direct-to-phone providers, seeking to provide broadband connectivity—not just text or voice services—in the near term via its massive LEO satellites. While AST SpaceMobile has launched multiple test satellites, the first five of its commercial satellites are scheduled to be delivered for launch this summer.

“Working together with AT&T has paved the way to unlock the potential of space-based cellular broadband directly to everyday smartphones. We are thrilled to solidify our collaboration through this landmark agreement,” AS SpaceMobile Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan said in a prepared statement. “We aim to bring seamless, reliable service to consumers and businesses across the continental U.S., transforming the way people connect and access information.”

Yesterday’s announcement of a formal commercial agreement came less than four months after AT&T—along with Google and global wireless carrier Vodafone—announced key strategic investments in AST SpaceMobile. AT&T made a $20 million revenue commitment to AST SpaceMobile when the investments were announced in January.

AT&T is the nationwide contractor building and maintaining the FirstNet nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to the FirstNet Authority. The FCC approved testing of satellite-direct-to-phone technology on the Band 14 airwaves, but that spectrum was not utilized in some of the higher-profile tests announced last year.

An AT&T spokesperson informed IWCE’s Urgent Communications that yesterday’s agreement with AST SpaceMobile addresses only operations on AT&T’s commercial spectrum, not the Band 14 airwaves licensed to the FirstNet Authority.

While contracted to build and maintain the NPSBN on 700 MHz Band 14, AT&T also has agreed to provide FirstNet subscribers with priority and preemption across its networks operating on the carrier’s commercial spectrum. IWCE’s Urgent Communications today asked an AT&T spokesperson whether the priority-and-preemption policy would be extended to include satellite-direct-to-phone connectivity provided by AST SpaceMobile, but a response was not provided in time to be included in this article. AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have conducted tests demonstrating that preemption, mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) and mission-critical video (MCVideo) services can be supported over the satellite-direct-to-phone connectivity provided by AST SpaceMobile.

If AT&T provides a response to the priority-and-preemption question, IWCE’s Urgent Communications will update this article.