AST SpaceMobile successfully tests cell-to-satellite calls transmitting video
According to press releases from both Verizon and AT&T on February 24, 2025, each has successfully tested cellphone-to-satellite video calls using the first set of satellites in AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellite constellation. From ATT:
AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have successfully completed a video call by satellite over AT&T spectrum using the BlueBird satellites launched last September. These are the same satellites that will be used to start commercial service.
From Verizon:
Verizon and AST have yet again pushed the boundaries of what can be done with mobile devices by successfully trialing a live video call between two mobile devices with one connected via satellite and the other connected via Verizon’s terrestrial network connection.
The satellites will essentially act like cell towers in space, filling in all dead spots not reached by ground-based towers.
AST’s constellation is competing with Starlink, which has signed T-Mobile for its service. In addition, Eutelsat-Oneweb has just successfully tested using its satellite constellation for the same purpose.
I suspect that in time, when these satellite systems have been thoroughly tested and have become operational, they will allow these phone networks to begin decommissioning their cell towers on Earth, thus reducing their costs significantly and thus lowering the cost to their customers.
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According to press releases from both Verizon and AT&T on February 24, 2025, each has successfully tested cellphone-to-satellite video calls using the first set of satellites in AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellite constellation. From ATT:
AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have successfully completed a video call by satellite over AT&T spectrum using the BlueBird satellites launched last September. These are the same satellites that will be used to start commercial service.
From Verizon:
Verizon and AST have yet again pushed the boundaries of what can be done with mobile devices by successfully trialing a live video call between two mobile devices with one connected via satellite and the other connected via Verizon’s terrestrial network connection.
The satellites will essentially act like cell towers in space, filling in all dead spots not reached by ground-based towers.
AST’s constellation is competing with Starlink, which has signed T-Mobile for its service. In addition, Eutelsat-Oneweb has just successfully tested using its satellite constellation for the same purpose.
I suspect that in time, when these satellite systems have been thoroughly tested and have become operational, they will allow these phone networks to begin decommissioning their cell towers on Earth, thus reducing their costs significantly and thus lowering the cost to their customers.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
”I suspect that in time, when these satellite systems have been thoroughly tested and have become operational, they will allow these phone networks to begin decommissioning their cell towers on Earth…”
I don’t. Maybe a few towers in remote locations, but not more than a tiny fraction of them. No system, operational or proposed — not even Starlink — has even close to the capacity to replace terrestrial cell towers. What these satellite systems will do is fill in the coverage gaps of existing tower networks. That’s a big deal and enough business by itself for multiple satellite systems.