AST SpaceMobile, AT&T Complete First ‘Space-Based’ Call Using Unmodified Smartphones – SlashGear

In addition to calling and messaging, AST eventually aims to deliver data at speeds up to 5G, all beamed from space. Around 50% of the earth’s population doesn’t have proper access to the newest standards as is. Much of that figure accounts for the people scattered throughout third-world countries; where funding, manpower, and adjacent prerequisite infrastructure can be hard to come by. Even in developed nations like the United States, there are large dead zone pockets that disrupt data and voice access for miles.

Such developments would close significant gaps, potentially at much less substantial deployment and maintenance costs compared to traditional networks. How long it’ll take AST to bring this dream to fruition is unclear. While AT&T raced to be the first carrier in the U.S. to hop aboard this specific journey, it isn’t alone in this cellular space race. Verizon previously partnered with Amazon to facilitate satellite-driven access through Project Kuiper, which aims to deliver broadband satellite internet for homes.

Amazon recently announced that it has finalized Project Kuiper’s hardware designs for consumer-oriented receiver antennas that will be offered to rural residents and enterprise partners. Cellular access would be a game-changing wrinkle, but considering how long it’s taken to develop the underlying technology, we could be several years out from seeing that.