Johan Wibergh will also serve as chair of the network planning and spectrum committee at AST SpaceMobile
Former Vodafone Group CTO Johan Wibergh will join the board of directors at AST SpaceMobile, as the satellite company deepens its telco relationships in pursuit of expanding its space-based broadband network.
Prior to his work at Vodafone, Wibergh held several roles at Ericsson and is currently on the boards at Bell Canada and Cohere Technologies. At AST SpaceMobile, Wibergh will also serve as chair of the company’s network planning and spectrum committee, which will handle features and capacity planning for its satellite constellation.
In the past month, AST has struck deals with AT&T and Verizon. As part of its agreement with AT&T, the telco’s Head of Network Chris Sambar joined AST’s board of directors, while the Verizon agreement stipulates that AST will provide direct-to-cellular service to the carrier’s customers and leverage the carrier’s 850 MHz spectrum.
AST said that between the two carrier deals, it will aim to enable 100% coverage of the United States for their customers. Verizon is making a $100 million commitment to AST SpaceMobile, which comprises $65 million in commercial prepayments plus $35 million of convertible notes. AST struck similar deals with AT&T and Vodafone earlier this year.
“I’m very excited to share that I will be joining the board of AST SpaceMobile,” Wibergh wrote on LinkedIn. “As a kid I wanted to be an astronaut, which of course never happened, but now I get a chance to be part of a company that is sending up satellites and will forever change mobile communications.”