AST SpaceMobile, Inc. Class A Common Stock 2026 Q2 Earnings Call
Review the key takeaways and the transcript of this earnings call.
- AST SpaceMobile reported Q2 2026 revenue of $31.5 million, more than doubling Q1 revenue, driven by commercial gateway deliveries and U.S. government contract milestones.
- The company has a revenue backlog of approximately $1.3 billion in aggregated contracted revenue agreements with partners and U.S. government contracts.
- AST SpaceMobile has over 60 mobile network operator partners covering more than 3 billion subscribers globally, including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, HTC Group, Bell Canada, and Telus.
- The company is preparing for commercial deployment with approximately 200 square feet of combined aperture hardware and about 50 gateways globally in various stages of completion, installation, and planning.
- AST SpaceMobile has deployed over 3,000 low band cellular cells in the U.S. and expects to deploy the remaining cells this year to cover roughly 5,600 cells.
- Bluebird satellites 14 to 16 are undergoing final testing, with manufacturing assembly nearly completed, and Bluebird 11 to 13 have demonstrated rapid build, launch, and deployment capabilities.
- The ASIC chip is in full production, expected to nearly double peak data speed from 98.9 Mbps achieved with block one Bluebird satellites, with future AI-enabled spectrum management improvements planned.
- The company is vertically integrated with 95% in-house manufacturing and plans to scale production to six fully assembled satellites per month, with over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space globally and plans to add 400,000 square feet in Midland, Texas.
- AST SpaceMobile’s balance sheet is strong with over $3.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash as of June 30, 2026, bolstered by a $1.15 billion convertible debt offering.
- Non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses for Q2 2026 were $119.1 million, up from $91.2 million in Q1, driven by higher cost of revenues, engineering services, general and administrative costs, and R&D.
- Capital expenditures for Q2 2026 were approximately $610 million, primarily for launch contracts and satellite production, slightly below prior guidance midpoint.
- The company expects full-year 2026 revenue of $150 to $200 million, reiterating prior guidance, with revenue growth expected to be weighted toward Q4.
- AST SpaceMobile has 10 launches booked with two providers targeting a cadence of every one to two months, aiming for 45 Bluebird satellites in orbit by early 2027.
- The average capital cost per satellite is estimated at $21 to $23 million, including launch and direct labor, consistent with prior quarters.
- The company’s spectrum portfolio includes approximately 1,150 MHz tunable spectrum for low and mid-band globally, with about 100 MHz access in the U.S. from partner and owned spectrum and over 60 MHz access globally.
- AST SpaceMobile’s total addressable market is expanding beyond direct-to-device cellular broadband to include government communications, radar, emergency response, Internet of Things, AI edge compute, and other advanced connectivity solutions.
- The company received a preliminary award for participation in Japan’s LEO infrastructure development project (J. Leo) with an expected value up to $1 billion in non-dilutive, non-debt government capital.
- AST SpaceMobile is viewed as a partner of choice among mobile network operators and governments, with ongoing network integration and testing in Europe with Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone Ukraine, and Deutsche Telekom.
- The U.S. government has awarded three new contracts with funded near-term value over $100 million expected in 2026 and 2027, focusing on communications and non-communications capabilities including radar and secure communications.
- AST SpaceMobile is developing AI edge computing capabilities on satellites starting with satellite 47 and 48 later in 2026.
- The company plans to support commercial service launch with as few as 45 satellites in orbit, targeting consumer beta trials later in 2026, with about half-day satellite coverage expected with 25 satellites.
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Transcript
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Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to AST SpaceMobile Second Quarter 2026 Business Update. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Max Berger, Investor Relations Manager of AST SpaceMobile. Thank you. You may begin.
Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I am also joined by Chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan, President, Scott Wisniewski, and CFO and Chief Legal Officer, Andrew Johnson. Let me refer you to slide 2 of the presentation, which contains our safe harbor disclaimer. During today's call, we may make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, and as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements on this call. For more information about these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Risk Factors section of AST SpaceMobile's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2025, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other documents filed by AST SpaceMobile with the SEC from time to time.
Also, after our initial remarks, we will be starting our Q&A section with questions submitted in advance by our shareholders. For those of you who may be new to our company and mission, there are nearly 6 billion mobile phones today around the world, but many of us still experience gaps in coverage as we live, work, and travel. Additionally, there are billions of people without cellular broadband and who remain unconnected to the global economy. The markets we are pursuing at AST SpaceMobile are massive, and the problem we are solving is important and touches nearly all of us. In this backdrop, AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with everyday unmodified mobile phones, supported by our extensive IP and patent portfolio.
It is now my pleasure to pass this over to Chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan, who will go through our activities since our last public update.
Thank you, Max. Our execution in 2026 continued to reinforce what we have believed since we created AST SpaceMobile and invented the space-based cellular broadband market. Combining differentiated technology, deep partnership with leading mobile network operators, and a scale vertical integration position us to define the future of direct-to-device cellular broadband. Our space-based direct-to-device network will be the first of its kind to leverage low-band and mid-band spectrum with broadband speeds and native cellular application, combining a feature set and technology stack that put us in a category of one. From the beginning, we designed our network architecture alongside existing mobile network operators, not as a replacement of them. Rather than requiring operators to rebuild their infrastructure, our architecture and technology extends and complement their existing terrestrial network into space, allowing us to integrate efficiently while evolving alongside future 3GPP standards.
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