TAMPA, Fla. — Google and AT&T have joined a $155 million strategic investment in AST SpaceMobile, which is set to raise double that to help fund its direct-to-smartphone connectivity constellation.
The strategic investment also includes funds from existing shareholder Vodafone, one of Europe’s largest telcos with a significant presence across Africa. It comes alongside AST SpaceMobile’s plans to draw up to $51.5 million from an existing debt facility and raise at least $100 million by selling discounted shares.
The capital injection will support AST SpaceMobile’s ambitions to deploy commercial services this year as the venture prepares to start producing spacecraft that would be twice as big as its first five 1,500-kilogram operational BlueBird satellites, known as Block 1 and slated to launch on a dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9 before the end of March.
AST SpaceMobile has said each follow-on Block 2 BlueBird would have 10 times more capacity than a Block 1 satellite to deliver more performance for the low Earth orbit constellation, designed to enable AT&T, Vodafone, and other terrestrial mobile network partners to keep subscribers connected outside cell tower coverage.
BlueWalker-3, the Texas-based venture’s 1,500-kilogram prototype, achieved download rates of around 14 megabits per second during tests in September. Those tests also saw BlueWalker-3 relay a brief 5G phone call to an ordinary smartphone in a cellular dead zone for the first time.
AST SpaceMobile said in August that the five Block 1 BlueBirds were fully funded after taking out $115 million in debt.
AST SpaceMobile raised $417 million in 2021 by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a deal that brought the seven-year-old company to the Nasdaq stock exchange. The group has raised more capital since then, but has also quickly burnt through cash amid production delays and cost overruns that weighed on its share price
The venture priced its $100…
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