Why this name is on the tape
AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) sells capacity to mobile network operators. The operators then offer it under their own brands. After the August 10, 2026 Q2 update the company said more than 60 operator partners cover over 3 billion subscribers, with about $1.3 billion of contracted backlog across commercial partners and U.S. government awards. That headline mixes definitive commercial agreements, joint ventures, equity holders, and older memoranda of understanding. A name on the 60-partner list is not a live consumer plan.
Thirteen spacecraft are in orbit and Q2 billed $31.5 million from government milestones and gateway deliveries — not a subscriber bill. A separate MarketNeon note covers the launch log and how this differs from Starlink. This article is the partner book. It is not a ranking of the stock and not a trade instruction.
United States: AT&T, Verizon, FirstNet — and a planned Big-3 vehicle
AT&T and AST have worked together since 2018. In May 2024 they replaced an MOU with a definitive commercial agreement through 2030 for space-based broadband to everyday phones. AT&T is also a 2024 strategic investor; its then head of network, Chris Sambar, was slated for the AST board. The 2023 BlueWalker 3 voice, text, and video demos ran over AT&T spectrum. Later BlueBird 1–5 tests included native VoLTE and SMS on AT&T’s core network, plus FirstNet Band 14 public-safety work.
Verizon signed a definitive commercial agreement on 8 October 2025 to offer AST service to Verizon customers, originally aimed at 2026, using premium multi-operator 850 MHz low-band as the U.S. coverage layer. Verizon is also a 2024 strategic investor. BlueBird 1–5 later supported VoLTE on Verizon’s core as well. In the United States, AST’s named commercial seats are AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile’s live direct-to-cell overlay is Starlink.
Separately, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have said they plan a joint venture to pool spectrum and buy satellite capacity for coverage beyond the terrestrial grid. AST’s Q2 update called that vehicle a way to enable space-based cellular broadband to every American. It is a carrier-side construct, not an exclusive AST contract. T-Mobile has already said most future satellite deals would run through the JV, and it already has Starlink. A planned Big-3 vehicle can sit next to more than one constellation.
Google is not a mobile operator. It is a 2024 strategic investor that has described product work with AST on Android satellite-connectivity features. American Tower, a tower landlord, is an earlier strategic investor; its former CTO, Ed Knapp, sits on AST’s board. Those are infrastructure and software seats, not U.S. carrier brands.
Europe: Vodafone through 2034, SatCo, and who is only testing
Vodafone is both an investor and a customer. A definitive commercial agreement runs through 2034 and sets a framework for Vodafone to offer AST capacity in its home markets and to other operators through its partner-markets program. Vodafone also ordered an early Block 1 BlueBird gateway. Video-call demos have run with Vodafone in a no-coverage area of Wales.
Satellite Connect Europe — also called SatCo — is the Luxembourg-headquartered joint venture between Vodafone and AST. It is meant to be the European-operated, carrier-neutral ground layer: gateways and a network operations center that other European operators can buy from, rather than each carrier building its own sky deal. The June 2025 launch of that JV said operators covering 21 EU member states had expressed interest. Expressions of interest are not signed take-or-pay leases.
On 6 August 2026 AST said network-integration testing was underway, subject to regulation, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, France, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, and Ukraine with Vodafone, Orange, Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone Ukraine, on SatCo gateway infrastructure. That is a test program after the BlueBird 11–13 launch. It is not commercial service in those countries. Vodafone Ireland has also been named for emergency-spectrum work. Ofcom has authorized VodafoneThree to use 900 MHz for a future UK direct-to-device layer with AST and SatCo — a licence change, not a consumer launch.
Japan and the Middle East: Rakuten, J-LEO, and stc’s $175 million prepay
Rakuten Mobile is a long-time strategic investor and the Japan operator seat. BlueBird 1–5 supported a video-call demo with Rakuten. On 4 August 2026 AST notified the FCC that it had started active direct-to-cellular operations in Japan under its licence — a regulatory start-of-operations notice, not a nationwide consumer plan. Rakuten has pointed to limited commercial service later in 2026 and broader coverage in fiscal 2027.
Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has preliminarily selected a Rakuten–AST joint venture for the J-LEO (Japan Low Earth Orbit) program. AST’s Q2 release put the expected value at up to about $1 billion of non-dilutive, non-debt government capital. Japanese press has described a ¥150 billion subsidy envelope over three years for satellite procurement, launch, and ground kit. Preliminary selection and a budget envelope are not cash in the bank and not a completed constellation.
stc group signed a 10-year commercial agreement on 29 October 2025 for Saudi Arabia and selected Middle East and Africa markets. The cash clock on that deal is a $175 million prepayment for future services, plus a longer undisclosed revenue commitment. AST said it would build three ground gateways in Saudi Arabia and a network operations center in Riyadh. Commercial service was aimed at 2026, subject to CST licensing in the Kingdom and regulators across stc’s roughly 15-country footprint. Q2 still listed Saudi Arabia as an integration-and-testing market. A prepayment is contracted demand. It is not a lit consumer service.
Canada: Bell built a gateway. Telus bought a seat.
Bell Canada has been an AST investor since 2021 through its venture arm. In October 2025 the two companies reported Canada’s first VoLTE voice call, broadband data session, and video stream on unmodified phones. On 15 July 2026 Bell said it had finished its first sovereign direct-to-device ground station in Québec, completed integration tests for text, data, voice, and video, and was building more stations in Ontario, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador so traffic stays on Canadian infrastructure. Bell has talked about a 2027 service launch after the constellation slipped.
TELUS signed a commercial agreement on 3 March 2026, took an equity stake, and said it would invest in Canadian ground infrastructure. The public target was late-2026 text, voice, and data in remote areas on ordinary smartphones. That is a signed seat and a calendar. It is not a live Telus plan. Rogers, the third national carrier, has partnered with Starlink instead.
The longer named list, and the government book
Over the years AST has also named TIM, Orange, Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, Saudi Telecom / stc, Zain KSA, e& (Etisalat), Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Telkomsel, Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Millicom, Smartfren, Telecom Argentina, MTN, Telstra, Africell, Liberty Latin America, and others. Some of those names now sit in the Europe test list or the stc deal. Many of the rest are older agreements or understandings that have not been upgraded, in public, to a 2026 definitive commercial contract. Cisneros Group has been listed as an investor alongside the carrier names.
The government book is a separate customer. AST has reported U.S. government awards totaling more than $125 million, then three newer awards with funded near-term value of more than $100 million expected in 2026 and 2027, described as national-security communications and non-communications work. Emergency-spectrum work has been named with FirstNet in the United States, in Japan, and with Vodafone Ireland. Q2’s $31.5 million of revenue was government milestones and gateway deliveries to commercial partners — the gateways Vodafone, Bell, stc, and others order so their cores can talk to the constellation. That is who is paying today. It is not a subscriber bill.
What this does not tell you
A named partner map is evidence of a buildout, not proof that consumer broadband from space is already in your pocket. AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, stc, Bell, and Telus are signed seats or public test partners. The 60-operator headline still includes older MOUs. Beta in late 2026 is not continuous coverage. Commercial service is still described as 2027.
On MarketNeon, ASTS is a ticker like any other: price, volume, crowd mentions, and headlines can be loud while the constellation is still incomplete. This article is context for those prints. It does not rank the name, and it does not tell anyone to buy or sell.