The commercial highlights an AT&T satellite-to-cellular service
In the most recent of a series of ongoing tests with AT&T, AST SpaceMobile streamed one of the carrier’s commercials from space to a smartphone.
The two companies are conducting tests via AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite, which is currently in orbit and which AST says is the largest-ever commercial communications array in low Earth orbit.
The AT&T commercial that was streamed features Ben Stiller and Jordan Spieth playing golf, with Stiller going so far off course and into the wild that he has to call for help—with an AT&T satellite-based connection, of course. The commercial includes the line that “The future of help is an AT&T satellite call away.”
AST SpaceMobile said that the commercial was streamed via BlueWalker 3 satellite while the satellite flew over a remote region of Hawaii. In a 30-second video of the test itself, which was posted to YouTube, AST SpaceMobile RF engineer Vani Murthy Vellanki says she is going to try to stream an AT&T YouTube video and pulls up the commercial. “I have all three phones attached and they’re doing pings,” she announces at one point, while holding a smartphone that is playing the commercial.
AST SpaceMobile announced in January that it had gained aggregate new financing of up to $206.5 million from the investments of AT&T, Google and new capital from Vodafone, and that it plans to draw on an additional sum up to $51.5 million from a credit line. Those investments encompass $20 million in revenue commitments from AT&T that are predicated on the successful launch and operation of AST SpaceMobile’s first five commercial satellites and a minimum $25 million in revenue commitments from Vodafone. Both carriers have placed purchase orders in undisclosed amounts for AST SpaceMobile network equipment that will support planned commercial services.
However, even as AT&T and AST conduct additional direct-to-cellular testing using 10-megahertz blocks of FirstNet and 800 MHz spectrum in Texas and Hawaii, AST SpaceMobile said during its most recent quarterly call that those first five Bluebird satellites of its anticipated constellation have been delayed again due to supplier issues. The company had first planned to launch them before the end of 2023, then expected to launch in the first or second quarter of 2024; Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan said that the satellites are now expected to be transported to the launch site between July and August 2024.
AST SpaceMobile claims that its recent streaming test is the first commercial ever streamed to a cell phone from space. Most initial direct-to-device, satellite-to-cellular services are focused on emergency text messages or calls and are low-data-rate services, as opposed to something like video streaming.
Watch the video of the test below:
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