AST's moat: 3,900
patents, spectrum,
and a head start.
Hard-won rights and technology — if the network actually works at scale.
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✦ The bottom line
AST's edge is intellectual property and access: about 3,900 patent claims, hard-to-get radio spectrum, ~60 carrier deals, and a first: a real broadband call from a satellite to an *unmodified* phone.
↓ the brief below
✦ Teach me
What keeps rivals out
Connecting a satellite to a normal phone is brutally hard — it needs special technology (patents), the legal right to use specific radio frequencies (spectrum), and deals with the phone carriers. Each is a barrier a competitor has to clear too.
Wall Street calls this
Barriers to entry
A first-mover with patents and spectrum can be very hard to dislodge — *if* it proves the technology works before rivals catch up.
Proof it can work · speed to a normal phone
98.9
Mbps
AST hit 98.9 Mbps of peak data speed from an in-orbit satellite to an unmodified smartphone — true broadband, no special hardware. Newer satellites are expected to roughly double that.
Source · 8-K · Item 2.02 — business update (peak data speeds) · Q1 2026 · Filed May 11, 2026
A 99 Mbps connection to a regular phone from orbit isn't a slide — it's a demonstrated result. AST got there step by step, and along the way locked up the patents, spectrum, and carrier relationships that make the lead durable. Here's the path.
How the lead was built
2017-20
Abel Avellan founds the company around direct-to-phone satellite tech.
2022-23
Launches BlueWalker 3, then makes the first-ever space-to-phone voice call.
2024-25
First BlueBird commercial satellites reach orbit; carrier deals pile up.
Now
FCC clears U.S. commercial service; ~3,900 patent claims and global spectrum in hand.
The moat, listed
Company has the key assets - intellectual property, partnerships, balance sheet cash, access to shared MNO and MSS spectrum, over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations space globally - to build and launch over 100 BlueBird satellites … backed by … approximately 3,900 patent and patent pending claims.
↳ Patents + spectrum + carrier deals + cash + factories is a real fortress — but every piece only pays off if the full constellation reaches orbit and works.
Source · 8-K · Item 2.02 — business update (key assets) · Q1 2026 · Filed May 11, 2026
⚠
Watch
Real IP, spectrum, and ~60 carriers — but the moat only matters if the network works at scale.