Verizon teams with AST SpaceMobile on space-based cellular service

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Verizon has signed a deal to provide cellular service from space through AST SpaceMobile beginning next year.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, a space-based cellular broadband network, soared more than 10% before the market opened Wednesday.

SpaceMobile's network is designed to operate across premium low-band spectrum, its own licensed L-band and S-band spectrum, and up to 1,150 MHz of mobile network operator partners’ low- and mid-band spectrum worldwide, the company said.

“The agreement will extend the scope of Verizon’s 850 MHz premium low-band spectrum into areas of the U.S. that would benefit from the ubiquitous reach of space-based broadband technology," Abel Avellan, founder, chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said in a statement.

Financial terms of the agreement, which expands on a strategic partnership announced in early 2024, were not disclosed.

“By integrating our expansive, reliable, robust terrestrial network with this innovative space-based technology, we are paving the way for a future where everything and everyone can be connected, regardless of geography," Srini Kalapala, Verizon's senior vice president of technology and product development, said in a statement.

The deal arrives two days after Verizon named former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman to its top job, taking over the post from Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg.

Schulman, who has served as a Verizon board member since 2018 and is its lead independent director, will become CEO of the New York company immediately. Vestberg will serve as a special adviser through Oct. 4, 2026.

Vestberg will continue as a Verizon board member until its 2026 annual meeting.