Satellites that connect directly to ordinary phones — and revenue is just starting to flow.
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✦ The bottom line
AST SpaceMobile barely earns revenue today — $14.7M last quarter. But it's guiding to $150-200M this year as its satellites come online, aimed at the 5 billion people the cell networks can't reach.
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✦ Teach me
Money coming in
For most companies, revenue is the headline. For AST, it's almost beside the point today — the company is pre-commercial. What matters is whether the revenue starts to ramp as satellites launch.
Wall Street calls this
Revenue
A company valued on a *future* market lives or dies on whether that future arrives. The first revenue dollars are the proof it's beginning.
Revenue, finally beginning · 2026 guidance
$150-200
M
From near-zero to a guided $150-200M this year (Q1 was $14.7M) — roughly half from already-contracted backlog with carriers and the U.S. government.
Source · 8-K · Item 2.02 — business update (2026 revenue guidance) · FY2026 guidance · Filed May 11, 2026
Revenue can only ramp if there are satellites in the sky to carry it. AST's whole plan is a constellation — dozens of large satellites, each unfolding a giant antenna in orbit, talking to phones below. So the real growth metric isn't dollars yet; it's how many satellites it can build and launch. Here's the 2026 target.
The buildout · satellites planned for orbit
~45
AST targets ~45 BlueBird satellites in orbit during 2026 (it has launches booked with SpaceX and Blue Origin), on the way to 100+ for global coverage.
Source · 8-K · Item 2.02 — business update (network deployment) · Q1 2026 · Filed May 11, 2026
Building satellites is only half of it — someone has to sell the service. Rather than build its own phone network, AST plugs into existing ones: it signs the carriers you already pay, who would resell space coverage to their subscribers. The size of that partner list tells you how much demand is lined up behind the satellites.
The demand · carrier partners
~60
Nearly 60 mobile-network-operator partners — AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and more — covering 3 billion+ subscribers, ready to resell space coverage once it's live.
Source · 8-K · Item 2.02 — business update (partner ecosystem) · Q1 2026 · Filed May 11, 2026
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Watch
Revenue finally ramping ($150-200M guided), 60 carriers — but it's just beginning.