TAMPA, Fla. — AST SpaceMobile’s newly announced plan to create a jointly owned European satellite operator for direct-to-smartphone services comes at a pivotal moment in the region’s push for greater space autonomy.

The Texas-based low Earth orbit (LEO) operator’s partnership with European telecom giant Vodafone, which was already set to provide the cellular spectrum needed to launch its services in 10 countries, ultimately aims to extend coverage across the entire continent.

Scott Wisniewski, AST SpaceMobile’s chief strategy officer, said the agreement lays the groundwork for a network of gateways essential to integrating satellites with more terrestrial mobile networks, paving the way to expand partnerships to three times as many countries.

“We think that having a European-based, European sovereign operator is really important,” Wisniewski said during a March 4 earnings call with investors.

“It’s important for Europe. It’s important for European operators, and it’s frankly an extension of how we built our network … We built it so that operators and regulators can feel comfortable about how the traffic is managed, and we think that this is a great extension of that.”

To support the expansion, the company said it recently opened 5,600 square meters of manufacturing and office space in Barcelona, Spain.

The move underscores a broader trend in Europe toward securing independent space-based capabilities, particularly in the face of rising geopolitical tensions and regulatory scrutiny over foreign satellite operators.

That push includes IRIS², the European Union’s planned $10 billion-plus multi-orbit broadband constellation, which aims to strengthen the region’s resilience against growing cyber and security threats.

Shares in France’s Eutelsat have tripled on the prospect that its OneWeb constellation could help the European Union provide additional broadband services to Ukraine, Reuters reported, following a clash last week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and questions over U.S.-based Starlink’s support.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said March 4 that the country’s most populous province will “rip up” a $68 million Starlink contract for remote satellite connectivity this summer in response to U.S. tariffs.

European ventures Sateliot and OQ Technologies are also exploring ways to connect standard devices from LEO.

In January, U.S.-based geostationary operator Viasat signed an agreement with the European Space Agency to explore partnering on a direct-to-device system that would use satellite-licensed spectrum instead of cellular frequencies.

Scaling up for growth

AST SpaceMobile operates five Block 1 BlueBird satellites in LEO, each spanning 64 square meters — the largest commercial antennas ever deployed to LEO.

To provide continuous 5G services across the United States, where AST SpaceMobile plans to first launch services with anchor customers Verizon and AT&T, the company estimates it will need between 45 and 60 satellites.

AST SpaceMobile manufactures its satellites in-house and recently exercised launch options for 15 additional satellites, expanding its planned deployment to 60 satellites over the next two years. These missions will primarily rely on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which reached orbit for the first time in January.

The next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellites will be three times larger than Block 1, increasing capacity tenfold to support peak data rates of up to 120 megabits per second, enabling video and other 5G services outside cellular coverage.

AST SpaceMobile previously indicated that the first Block 2 satellite could launch from India’s GSLV rocket as early as March, though the company did not provide an update on the timing.

To accelerate deployment, AST SpaceMobile is ramping up production from two satellites per month to six by the second half of 2025, according to founder and CEO Abel Avellan.

The company plans to open up a new 85,000-square-foot facility in Homestead, Florida, to speed up production, in addition to its recently expanded manufacturing site in Midland, Texas.

Avellan said on the earnings call that AST SpaceMobile is already in the process of manufacturing 40 Block 2 BlueBirds, and has started procuring long-lead items for a total of 53 satellites.

The company expects capital expenditures of between $150 million and $175 million for the first three months of 2025, after recording $174 million in the previous quarter as it began scaling up production.

While AST SpaceMobile continues to explore government-backed financing options, the company said it has access to enough funding to meet objectives over the next 12 months, after ending 2024 with nearly $1 billion in cash following multiple fundraising initiatives.

AST SpaceMobile also highlighted a recent $43 million contract supporting the U.S. Space Development Agency through a prime contractor, leveraging Block 2 BlueBird spacecraft in a signal of early revenue opportunities in the defense sector.

The venture still requires regulatory approvals to provide commercial services in the United States and elsewhere. 

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