AST SpaceMobile told how it will offer cellular services via satellites

AST SpaceMobile presentation slides have appeared on the Internet, which talk about the procedure for providing services to the company’s cellular communications via satellites. Tariffs will be offered both monthly and daily. The service will be automatically offered to customers of those operators who will work with the AST SpaceMobile network.

Image source: AST SpaceMobile

As explained in footage from the presentation, an invitation to use mobile communications via satellite will appear on the smartphone screen every time it leaves the coverage area of ​​terrestrial cell towers. If this option is selected, the subscriber will be able to immediately take advantage of all the benefits of high-speed mobile communications through space – make video calls, use the Internet and send text messages. The promised connection speed will reach 20 Mbit/s and higher.

The presentation also explains who the space cellular communications will be aimed at. The company is targeting ordinary and corporate users, emergency calls and Internet of Things. In the latter case, for example, we can talk about sensors and agricultural equipment.

AST SpaceMobile has already begun deploying its “cell towers”—giant BlueBird satellites—in orbit. For the average user, this promises more comfort with a stable connection even in remote places on Earth, but astronomers are already horrified by what is happening. This and other constellations of communications satellites in low orbit threaten to bury ground-based observational astronomy in the optical and radio range.

AST SpaceMobile’s most formidable competitor, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is promoting its own mobile space communications network within the Starlink Internet constellation. Both of them expect to begin testing the “call through space from a regular smartphone” service before the end of this year, but to cover the entire United States, each of them will have to put many more satellites into orbit – dozens in the case of AST SpaceMobile, and hundreds for the Starlink network. The issue of payment for the service is also unclear. Most subscribers are simply not ready to overpay for communication through space.