Financial Services Association, May 20 (Editor Zhou Ziyi) Last week, American telecom giant AT&T signed a final commercial agreement with satellite communications startup AST SpaceMobile to directly provide space broadband network services to everyday mobile phones. However, the news of this major partnership is undoubtedly a “critical attack” for Musk's SpaceX.

The two companies had already carried out early testing before the two parties agreed on a partnership. The two sides wrote in a statement of cooperation issued that the agreement will last until 2030.

As part of this agreement, AT&T Network Director Chris Sambar will be appointed as a member of AST SpaceMobile's board of directors.

Comprehensive coverage

This move means AT&T is trying to provide a wider range of connectivity based on the largest wireless network in the US. Since 2018, the two companies have been collaborating to explore this field. Today, AT&T will continue to work directly with AST SpaceMobile to develop, test, and troubleshoot this technology to help achieve satellite coverage in the continental United States.

Currently, about 5 billion mobile phones around the world are located in remote areas that cannot be covered by base stations, and wireless network operators hope to provide networking services to these regions as soon as possible.

AT&T Chief Operating Officer Jeff McElfresh said, “The space network direct-to-mobile technology aims to provide customers with connectivity by complementing and integrating our existing mobile networks. “This agreement marks the next step in our industry leadership as we use emerging satellite technology to serve consumers and where connectivity was previously impossible.”

According to reports, this summer, AST SpaceMobile plans to launch the first batch of commercial satellites from Cape Canaveral in the United States to near-Earth orbit. The first five satellites in this batch will be launched by SpaceX's carrier rocket, and missions will begin about 3 months after launch.

SpaceX's challenge

Two years ago, Elon Musk's space exploration technology company SpaceX reached a similar partnership with communications operator T-Mobile. SpaceX will use satellites from its high-speed satellite internet service company Starlink (Starlink) to provide connectivity services for T-Mobile phones.

Currently, SpaceX has about 6,000 satellites running in low-Earth orbit, far ahead of other companies around the world. The operational communication signals of low-Earth orbit satellites are transmitted rapidly between satellites and terrestrial users.

Last year, SpaceX planned to launch a direct satellite service for mobile phones within a year. The addition of this function will further enhance the user's communication experience, so that mobile phones can be directly connected to the Starlink satellite network to achieve faster and more stable Internet access.

In January of this year, SpaceX launched the first satellites capable of providing mobile phone services. Musk said the service allows mobile phones to connect to the Internet anywhere on the planet, but there are still technical restrictions.

Currently, in addition to meeting new rivals in satellite internet services, SpaceX's launch vehicle business has recently faced challenges.

On Sunday (5/19), Blue Origin (Blue Origin), a subsidiary of Amazon founder Bezos, restarted manned space travel services. The company used rockets to transport 6 passengers to an altitude of 100 kilometers, stayed for a short time, and then returned to the ground.

According to reports, Blue Origin is also planning to launch the first New Glen rocket that can transport cargo and has more thrust later this year.