People will be able to connect directly to 4G – and in the future 5G – with ordinary smartphones.
Rakuten and Vodafone have become the lead investors in a venture to extend mobile coverage to more people and devices across the planet, using the first mobile broadband network that will be broadcast from space.
Other investors include: American Tower; Cisneros; Samsung NEXT; and founder Abel Avellan.
The new investment brings the total capital raised by AST & Science to US$128 million.
Branded SpaceMobile, the low-Earth-orbit (LEO), low-latency satellite network from AST & Science will be the first in the world to connect directly to standard smartphones.
The company holds an extensive patent and IP portfolio for its ground and space technologies.
Eliminate gaps
“SpaceMobile will be particularly transformative to the growing $1 trillion annual global mobile market because it will eliminate the coverage gaps faced by today’s five billion mobile subscribers moving in and out of connectivity every day.
“It will also help the world’s most under-served communities to access the latest mobile services much sooner than predicted, helping more people to access the digital economy,” said Abel Avellan, AST & Science chairman and CEO.
AST & Science will initially offer 4G services to partner networks globally, with 5G delivered in the future.
Terrestrial cellular
The SpaceMobile network will enable seamless roaming to and from terrestrial cellular networks at comparable data rates without any need for specialised satellite hardware.
Separately Vodafone has agreed to a strategic partnership and will contribute technical, operational and regulatory expertise in support of the global deployment of SpaceMobile.
Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone Group, said, “At Vodafone we want to ensure everyone benefits from a digital society – that no-one is left behind.
“We believe SpaceMobile is uniquely placed to provide universal mobile coverage, further enhancing our leading network across Europe and Africa – especially in rural areas and during a natural or humanitarian disaster – for customers on their existing smartphones.”
Rakuten global
“AST & Science’s SpaceMobile venture is a perfect fit for us,” said Mickey Mikitani, chairman and CEO of Rakuten. “Our investment is part of our broader strategy to become a leading mobile network operator in Japan and a global solution provider to markets around the world.
“Rakuten’s strategic investment with AST & Science has the potential to support our efforts to connect users across Japan through mobile innovation, expanding national coverage from metropolitan to remote areas and bolstering the network in times of natural disaster.”