Mission accelerated: AST SpaceMobile’s CEO paints the big picture

The satellite industry is all about talking up the future. It can sound like bragging, but the executives in that business are always tasked with building a reputation for what they’re about to do tomorrow.

To raise the kind of coin, cooperation and consideration necessary to put birds in space, you must deftly paint “the big picture.”

Abel Avellan, chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, got his best brushes out this week as he sent a colorful letter to shareholders saying his company will have the “largest commercial communications satellite ever deployed in Low Earth Orbit.”

It’ll be a cell tower in the sky that can connect calls and distribute data “even in remote areas with limited terrestrial infrastructure,” Avellan’s letter stated. “Whether you are scaling a mountain peak, exploring a national park, or simply commuting to work, you’ll have reliable cellular access wherever you go within the United States.”

It sounds amazing. It’s like the kind of unfettered access we were promised with 5G, 4G, and, come to think of it, 3G. I can always hear the choir singing but can’t find the church.

As luck would have it, telcos are critical to Avellan’s big picture. They’re lining up with space startups, picking sides and setting strategies, adding their marketing power and investment dollars to power some bigger, bolder brush strokes.

AT&T, Google and others have backed AST SpaceMobile, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the startup so it could get its LEO satellites in orbit. Verizon, AT&T and AST SpaceMobile are working against the clock to compete with SpaceX, which has partnered with T-Mobile and aims to provide a similar blanket of uninterrupted data service and cellphone coverage.

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