AST SpaceMobile gets access to Brazil

AST SpaceMobile, which is looking to start a limited direct-to-device satellite telephony system, has confirmed its permission to operate over Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy. A similar ruling was granted to Starlink, but the spectrum being awarded was previously assigned to EchoStar and Omnispace (Omnispace has since merged with Lynk Global to form Elveo with global ambitions to server the Direct-to-Device market).

AST 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, AST has 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, according to the company.

Regulator Anatel’s authorisation covers 15+15 MHz of S-band spectrum, totalling 30 MHz, for AST’s planned service in Brazil. In addition, following Anatel’s regulatory approval, the subsequent agreements with four regional operators support AST’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’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.

AST’s business model is to work with local telco operators on a ‘revenue share’ of the cash that comes from connecting users in rural or non-served regions.

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