AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) began the day and the week in the negative. The company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications, today announced significant progress toward bringing space-based cellular broadband to Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy.
AST SpaceMobile has secured S-band spectrum authorization from Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), as well as regulatory approval for the secondary use of spectrum in the 700 MHz band.
In addition, the Company signed agreements with four regional mobile network operators and unveiled plans to install ground infrastructure in the country to support connect-anywhere capabilities for the more than 200 million handset lines in Brazil.
Anatel’s authorization covers 15+15 MHz of S-band spectrum, totaling 30 MHz, for AST SpaceMobile’s planned service in Brazil. In addition, following Anatel’s regulatory approval, agreements with four regional operators support AST SpaceMobile’s authorized secondary use of up to 10+10 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band within the operators’ respective licensed areas.
These complementary spectrum resources — 30 MHz in the S-band and up to 20 MHz in the 700 MHz band — strengthen AST SpaceMobile’s ability to deliver space-based cellular broadband across Brazil, beyond the reach of terrestrial network to enable voice calls, broadband data and video streaming directly on standard, unmodified smartphones.
ASTS shares fell 39 cents to $39.40.
Tech Insider
