The FCC’s recent decision to allow AST SpaceMobile to start testing mobile satellite connectivity for smartphones, known as direct-to-device (D2D), is good news for the company’s mobile operator partners AT&T and Verizon as a step towards services.
The agency granted the satellite operator a 30-day authorization to evaluate and demonstrate services from its satellites using up to 100 “commercially available, off-the-shelf” user devices and operating in the 800MHz spectrum band. The permission to operate lasts until September 12.
The tests are limited to two 50-kilometer radius areas in Midland, Texas, and Lanham, Maryland. The specific frequency bands are 817MHz–824MHz for uplink (Earth-to-space) and 862MHz–869MHz downlink (space-to-Earth), which is the spectrum that T-Mobile just transferred to Grain Management.
AT&T Chief Operating Officer Jeff McElfresh said in a LinkedIn post that the FCC’s temporary approval for AST SpaceMobile is “another key milestone” for efforts to close the country’s “connectivity gaps.”
“Satellite-based internet service isn’t a replacement for advanced fiber or 5G connectivity, but rather a complementary technology we’ll use to bring AT&T customers the best possible connectivity experience – wherever they go,” McElfresh wrote.
It is not clear if AT&T is directly involved in this 30-day testing period. The operator recently indicated that it expects D2D services to start sometime in 2027 to fill in connectivity beyond its terrestrial fixed and mobile networks.
AT&T and Verizon are strategic partners of AST SpaceMobile in the US, while T-Mobile has an exclusive relationship with SpaceX’s Starlink for D2D that runs until at least the end of this year.
McElfresh also noted that the testing progress “builds on our announced satellite-connectivity joint venture, demonstrating how industry collaboration can extend reliable coverage to even more people and places.”
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon announced plans in May to form a D2D mobile satellite JV that would pool some spectrum resources and provide a single entity to engage with multiple satellite operators for mobility coverage.
800MHz in D2D spotlight
The FCC test approval sent some AST SpaceMobile watchers’ hearts aflutter because of a reference to T-Mobile included in the original grant document, published on August 13. One of the conditions was that all operations under the temporary grant “must comply with all existing agreements between AST SpaceMobile and T-Mobile USA, Inc.”
That line was interpreted by some to mean that T-Mobile has some sort of deal with AST SpaceMobile. Light Reading has contacted T-Mobile for clarification about which agreements the document was referring to.
Interestingly, an updated grant document published on August 17 removed that condition and there is no reference to T-Mobile.
The FCC expanded the use of these 800MHz licenses for supplemental coverage from space (SCS), among others, as part of the approval of the T-Mobile/Grain spectrum swap transaction. T-Mobile transferred its 800MHz licenses to Grain in exchange for $2.9 billion in cash and Grain’s 600MHz licenses.
AST SpaceMobile supports the 800MHz band on ten satellites it already has in orbit and has said it is well-placed to put this spectrum to use.
The temporary test grant for 800MHz follows the FCC’s decision in April to allow AST SpaceMobile to operate a constellation of 248 satellites for D2D services using 700MHz and 800MHz spectrum coordinated with partners AT&T, FirstNet and Verizon.
