TELUS and AST SpaceMobile Partner to Bring Space-Based Cellular Broadband Connectivity to Every Corner of Canada

VANCOUVER, British Columbia & MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 3, 2026--

TELUS Corporation (“TELUS”) (TSX: T; NYSE: TU), a world-leading communications technology company, and AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for commercial and government applications, have signed a commercial agreement to bring space-based cellular broadband service to places it’s never reached before across Canada. As part of the commercial agreement, TELUS will invest in ground-based satellite infrastructure and become an equity shareholder in AST SpaceMobile, reinforcing the long-term alignment between the two companies.

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Planned for late 2026, TELUS customers will be able to send texts, make calls and use data in Canada’s most remote locations, staying connected whether they're hiking through the backcountry, working at a remote job site, or spending the weekend at the lake, using the smartphone they already own with no special equipment required.

“By combining TELUS’ award-winning wireless network and AST SpaceMobile’s innovative satellite technology, we’re eliminating connectivity gaps across Canada and ensuring our customers in even the most remote corners of the country can stay connected to what matters most, when it matters the most,” said Nazim Benhadid, Chief Technology Officer, TELUS Networks. “This is a significant milestone in our commitment to keep all Canadians connected, no matter where they live, work or explore.”

Once available, TELUS customers will have the opportunity to use their existing smartphones to stay connected almost anywhere across Canada. The connectivity is made possible by combining AST SpaceMobile’s Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, with the largest commercial phase arrays ever deployed in LEO and TELUS’ award-winning wireless network, enabling connectivity in areas where traditional cellular network infrastructure is not available.

“Canada’s vast geography, remote industries and dispersed communities make universal connectivity both a challenge and a necessity,” said Chris Ivory, AST SpaceMobile Chief Commercial Officer. “By combining TELUS’ proven leadership in network innovation with AST SpaceMobile’s innovative technology, we aim to provide seamless mobile coverage from city centers to the most isolated regions, ensuring people, businesses and first responders stay connected when it matters most. Together, we are working to redefine what mobile coverage means for Canadians, using the smartphones they already carry every day.”

This partnership builds on TELUS’ commitment to keep Canadians connected by continuing to enhance its network to bring faster 5G+ and LTE speeds and stronger signals to communities across Canada, both rural and urban.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a world-leading communications technology company operating in more than 45 countries and generating over $20 billion in annual revenue with more than 21 million customer connections through our advanced suite of broadband services for consumers, businesses and the public sector. We are committed to leveraging our technology to enable remarkable human outcomes. TELUS is passionate about putting our customers and communities first, leading the way globally in client service excellence and social capitalism. TELUS Health is enhancing more than 161 million lives across 200 countries and territories through innovative preventive medicine and well-being technologies. TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods utilizes digital technologies and data insights to optimize the connection between producers and consumers. TELUS Digital specializes in digital customer experiences and future-focused digital transformations that deliver value for their global clients. Guided by our enduring ‘give where we live’ philosophy, TELUS continues to invest in initiatives that support education, health and community well-being. In 2023, we launched the TELUS Student Bursary, which strives to ensure that every young person in Canada who wants a postsecondary education has the opportunity to pursue one. To date, the program has distributed over $6 million in bursaries to 2,000 students and counting. Since 2000, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $1.85 billion in cash, in-kind contributions, time and programs, including 2.5 million days of service—earning TELUS the distinction of the world’s most giving company.

For more information, visit telus.com or follow @TELUSNews on X and @Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.

About AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio, and designed for both commercial and government applications. Our engineers and space scientists are on a mission to enable 4G and 5G space-based cellular broadband to every device, everywhere, for today’s nearly 6 billion mobile subscribers globally. For more information, follow AST SpaceMobile on YouTube, X (Formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook. Watch this video for an overview of the SpaceMobile mission.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains “forward-looking statements” that are not historical facts, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results of AST SpaceMobile to differ materially from those expected and projected. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “potential,” “projects,” “predicts,” “continue,” or “should,” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside AST SpaceMobile’s control and are difficult to predict.

Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) expectations regarding AST SpaceMobile’s strategies and future financial performance, including AST’s future business plans or objectives, expected functionality of the SpaceMobile Service, anticipated timing of the launch of the Block 2 BlueBird satellites, anticipated demand and acceptance of mobile satellite services, prospective performance and commercial opportunities and competitors, the timing of obtaining regulatory approvals, ability to finance its research and development activities, commercial partnership acquisition and retention, products and services, pricing, marketing plans, operating expenses, market trends, revenues, liquidity, cash flows and uses of cash, capital expenditures, and AST SpaceMobile’s ability to invest in growth initiatives; (ii) the negotiation of definitive agreements with mobile network operators relating to the SpaceMobile Service that would supersede preliminary agreements and memoranda of understanding and the ability to enter into commercial agreements with other parties or government entities; (iii) the ability of AST SpaceMobile to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees and AST SpaceMobile’s responses to actions of its competitors and its ability to effectively compete; (iv) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (v) the possibility that AST SpaceMobile may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (vi) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against AST SpaceMobile; and (vii) other risks and uncertainties indicated in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including those in the Risk Factors section of AST SpaceMobile’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 2, 2026.

AST SpaceMobile cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. AST SpaceMobile cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. For information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors in AST SpaceMobile’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 2, 2026. AST SpaceMobile’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, AST SpaceMobile disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

AST SpaceMobile and Telus signed commercial agreement

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday and warned residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group said it was ready for an “open war” with Israel in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The development came after Hezbollah fired rockets and launched drones early Monday toward northern Israel. Israel retaliated with a wave of airstrikes that killed 50 people in Lebanon, including seven children as well as a Palestinian militant and a Hezbollah intelligence official in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

That death toll is a revised figure from an earlier one reported by the Health Ministry, which originally said Monday that 52 people died in the strikes. Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine then on Tuesday reduced that number to 40, then later raised the toll to 50.

Lebanon also said 335 people were wounded and that tens of thousands were displaced.

The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that 30,000 displaced people were staying in collective shelters in Lebanon, “while many others slept in their cars, on sides of the roads as they could not yet find safe shelter.”

Hezbollah fired two salvos of rockets toward northern Israel, the militant group said while Israeli airstrikes overnight damaged a building housing Hezbollah’s television and radio stations. Beirut’s southern suburbs also saw a series of strikes on Tuesday afternoon that came without warning. The Israeli military later said it targeted Hezbollah officials.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, warned residents of more than 80 villages and towns in southern Lebanon to leave, adding that people should not return to these areas until further notice.

A senior Hezbollah official said that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire as Israel’s strikes continued on Lebanon, the group’s patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight Israel. “The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement,” Mohamoud Komati said.

“So let it be an open war,” added the Hezbollah official.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States, France and Egypt on Tuesday that Hezbollah has been firing rockets from areas north of the Litani River. That's outside an area south of the river and along the border with Israel, where Lebanese troops have earlier said they are in full control.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it sent additional troops into southern Lebanon and took new positions on several strategic points close to the border. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its positions along the border.

Adraee, the Israeli spokesman, said on X that the troops’ movements inside Lebanon are meant to bolster Israel's forward defense system and create an addition layer of security.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its border positions.

A Lebanese military official confirmed to The Associated Press that Israeli troops had moved into several areas in southern Lebanon on Tuesday and that the Lebanese army was “repositioning” in the area. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, later Tuesday said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops making forays across the border and then returning to Israel. Israel’s army said its troops are still operating in Lebanon, but it wasn't clear how many soldiers remained inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza. After months of low-level fighting, a full-scale war erupted in September 2024 and Israel later launched a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Israeli forces withdrew from most of southern Lebanon after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting in November 2024 but continued to occupy five points on the Lebanese side of the border. Israel also continued with near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah has been trying to rebuild its positions there.

Lebanon's Health Ministry also said Tuesday that 397 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect and before Hezbollah launched its latest attacks.

Thousands of Syrians living in Lebanon crossed back into Syria, fleeing Israeli strikes over the past two days.

UNHCR said the number of people crossing from Lebanon into Syria jumped on Monday to 10,629 from typically between 3,900 and 4,400 a day since the holy Islamic month of Ramadan began in February. The vast majority were Syrian, but a small number of Lebanese citizens also crossed.

Azzam Sweiri, a Syrian farm laborer working in southern Lebanon, said he saw streets "packed with cars and people” as he fled the bombardment.

“It took us 10 or 12 hours just to make it 30 or 40 kilometers,” he said after crossing in to Syria Tuesday, adding that after he left, he heard that the house next to the one where he lived was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Associated Press journalists Ghaith AlSayed and Omar Sanadiki in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, contributed to this report.

A Syrian man carries a child as they cross the Syrian-Lebanese border into Syria, fleeing Lebanon due to Israeli airstrikes, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Firefighters inspect the rubble as smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

FILE - Employees work in the newsroom of Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV station in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A firefighter extinguishes a burned shop at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)