Press release
AST SpaceMobile Achieves Space-Based 5G Cellular Broadband Connectivity From Everyday Smartphones, Another Historic World First
AST SpaceMobile's groundbreaking space-based 5G cellular broadband capabilities and new data rate of 14 Mbps follows closely on the heels of successful 4G
About this update from Ast Spacemobile, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\nAST SpaceMobile's groundbreaking space-based 5G cellular broadband capabilities and new data rate of 14 Mbps follows closely on the heels of successful 4G testing with AT&T and Vodafone\n\n\n\nThis historic achievement was reached using the BlueWalker 3 test satellite in collaboration with partners Vodafone, AT&T, and Nokia, and further shows promise for filling coverage gaps with 4G and 5G broadband connectivity from space around the planet\n\n\n\nThe same patented technologies support AST SpaceMobile’s commercial satellites, the first five of which the company currently plans to launch in Q1 2024\n\n\n\n MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nAST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, today announced another unprecedented leap in telecommunications by successfully making the first-ever 5G connection for voice and data between an everyday, unmodified smartphone and a satellite in space.\n\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230919031637/en/BlueWalker 3 on the ground at our Midland, Texas facility prior to launch, and in space (Photo: Business Wire)\nCompany engineers demonstrated space-based 5G connectivity by placing a call from Maui, Hawaii, USA, to a Vodafone engineer in Madrid, Spain, using AT&T spectrum and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 test satellite — the largest-ever commercial communications array deployed in low Earth orbit. Fifth-generation or 5G mobile networking is the fastest, most efficient, highest-throughput, lowest-latency, and flexible wireless standard ever released by the 3GPP consortium.\n\n\nThe 5G call was placed on September 8, 2023, from an unmodified Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone located near Hana, HI, in a wireless dead zone. 5G connectivity testing was completed with our partners Vodafone, AT&T and Nokia. In a separate test, the company broke its previous space-based cellular broadband data session record by achieving a download rate of approximately 14 Mbps.\n\n\nThese historic accomplishments follow AST SpaceMobile’s April announcement that the company had completed the first-ever space-based voice calls using everyday unmodified smartphones. In June, AST SpaceMobile announced that the...