AST SpaceMobile Advances Space-Based Cellular Broadband in Europe in Collaboration with European Mobile Network Operator Partners

MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 19, 2026--

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 both commercial and government applications, welcomes the Letter of Intent signed by its mobile network operator partners Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone to explore a potential joint bid for Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum as AST SpaceMobile continues to advance service readiness across Europe.

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The collaboration among Europe’s four largest mobile network operators is expected to accelerate network integration, improve the customer experience and extend coverage into areas without reliable mobile connectivity. The initiative supports a coordinated approach to spectrum access and service deployment, strengthening European digital data sovereignty while enabling operators to deliver space-based cellular broadband through their existing mobile services.

“Europe’s mobile network operators are taking an important step toward extending connectivity to every subscriber, wherever they live, work and travel,” said Wayne Thorsen, Chief Commercial Officer of AST SpaceMobile. “Our role is to support our partners with the satellite technology, spectrum capabilities and ground infrastructure needed to deliver cellular broadband directly to the phones people already use. Together, we are building a third layer of connectivity that expands coverage and strengthens the resilience of Europe’s mobile networks.”

AST SpaceMobile’s existing European joint venture, Satellite Connect Europe, AST SpaceMobile is providing a dedicated network of European-operated ground infrastructure that link its BlueBird satellites with mobile operators’ core networks. This infrastructure is designed to support coverage across Europe, a market with over 500 million mobile subscribers, while keeping data handling and service control within European jurisdiction. Operators retain their customer relationships as satellite connectivity extends the reach of their terrestrial networks.

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites feature the largest communication satellites ever deployed in low Earth orbit and connect directly to standard, unmodified smartphones, backed by 3,900 patent and patent pending claims. The company has demonstrated peak download speeds of 98.9 Mbps, with next-generation satellites expected to deliver peak data rates approaching 200 Mbps. These capabilities are designed to support voice, video and broadband services for consumers, businesses, first responders and governments.

The Company’s satellite technology can tune across approximately 1,150 MHz of mobile network operator partners’ low- and mid-band spectrum globally. Together with AST SpaceMobile’s S-band priority rights, this flexibility enables the Company to combine participating operators’ spectrum with satellite spectrum to support expanded coverage and capacity in European markets, subject to applicable authorizations.

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, its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2026 filed with the SEC on May 11, 2026 and the future reports that it may file from time to time with the SEC.

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, its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2026 filed with the SEC on May 11, 2026 and the future reports that it may file from time to time with the SEC. 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 Advances Space-Based Cellular Broadband in Europe in Collaboration with European Mobile Network Operator Partners

PARIS (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and leading Republicans are trying to leverage widespread riots in France ahead of midterm congressional elections by making unsubstantiated claims that the social unrest in Europe is caused by Muslim migrants.

Peaceful nationwide demonstrations in France over the high cost of living and in support of students' grievances over underfunded schools turned violent over the weekend, with masked rioters committing vandalism and clashing with overwhelmed police. In Italy’s finance and fashion capital of Milan on Saturday, rioters clashed with police, looted stores and set property on fire.

Here's a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Migrants of Muslim heritage are doing most of the damage in France and Italy.

THE FACTS: It is difficult to know the exact sociological makeup of the protesters, but no one group has been singled out as being responsible for the violence.

Trump has tried to put the blame on migrants, urging French President Emmanuel Macron to “close your borders and take control before it is too late!”

“If Europe doesn’t close its borders and bring the criminals out, like the people that are protesting, Europe is finished,” Trump said at the White House while leaving for a campaign rally supporting Republicans in Kansas. “When I look at France, when you look at Italy, when you look at all the turmoil and the hatred — that’s not about school. That’s about people coming into the countries that hate the country.”

Republicans have specifically alleged that Muslims are releasing pent-up anger at the historically Catholic France, while tying it to a dystopian view of what could happen in the U.S.

“Today, radical Islam is the single greatest threat to the American democracy and freedom. We’re seeing in real time in France what happens when moderates capitulate to radical Islam,” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall told the crowd at Monday's rally attended by Trump.

Authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting in France.

French authorities do not release the identities of people arrested and sent to trial. Unlike the United States, France does not collect data based on race or ethnicity, in line with a national doctrine of colorblindness, which aims at encouraging equality by ignoring race altogether.

Accounts of the protests and images of the unrest seem to show they are representative of France’s diverse society, which has seen influxes of people from France’s former colonies in Africa and Asia for generations.

In Italy, Milan police said violent protests on Saturday included a large number of naturalized children of immigrants as well as foreign nationals. However, Milan’s welfare councilor, Lamberto Bertolé, told The Associated Press that more investigation would be needed to determine the backgrounds and motivations of the young people who participated in the violence.

CLAIM: Synagogues in France have suffered antisemitic attacks and “steeples” have burned.

THE FACTS: No direct link has been established between violence and faith, and no houses of worship have been directly attacked.

Social media is awash with posts claiming to link Muslim rioters to acts of religiously motivated violence. Trump also tried to make this link, saying “when you see burning steeples and raging fires in France just remember that is what the radical Democrats want to do to America.”

The Jewish Community Protection Service, a French organization that monitors antisemitic incidents, said in a statement that a Paris synagogue was damaged over the weekend in what is believed to be a burglary attempt and that “no evidence suggests” that some businesses were targeted because of their owners’ religious affiliation. Authorities said at least 3,000 shops have been damaged or looted in major cities across the country.

France, which has a history of antisemitism, is home to the largest Jewish community and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

One of the most dramatic images of the French riots has been the burning of the 19th-century town hall in Limoges, whose bell tower was engulfed in flames before it collapsed. Ablaze, the bell tower could potentially be mistaken for a steeple.

CLAIM: France’s far-left is at fault.

THE FACTS: France’s far-left party has backed the student movement from the start, and is now being blamed for the disorder by political rivals ahead of April’s national election. While radical far-left activists have been found by authorities to be behind some of the violence, they are not entirely to blame for the extent of the vandalism and clashes.

Right-wing social media is full of video showing rioters smashing storefronts and causing French police in riot gear to retreat under a hail of stones and other hurled debris.

The center-right Macron, who will step down next year, accused far-left activists of trying to foment chaos by attacking buildings and police, as did other political leaders in France. Right-wing figures elsewhere in Europe and the U.S. have done the same.

France has a long tradition of street protests over social and political concerns, which are sometimes marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police.

On Saturday in Paris, the march and the clashes largely unfolded side by side. Tens of thousands of people gathered at Place de la République, and the vast majority set off peacefully toward the northern part of the city. Around the same time, clashes with police broke out on and around the square, and groups of hundreds formed unauthorized marches across central Paris, police said.

The radical far-left is too small to account for violence on this scale, said Sebastian Roché, a professor at Sciences Po Grenoble, who has studied policing for more than two decades. “It is a very small core, a very small milieu, because these are not structured groups.”

Roché said looting in particular is “not at all how these groups operate,” and is mostly the work of criminals seizing the opportunity created by the disorder.

France’s far-left leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has stuck with his support for the protesters, and has appealed for the protests to be peaceful while calling the police response heavy handed.

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

AP writers Colleen Barry in Milan and Tom Nouvian in Paris contributed to this report.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

A protester kicks a tear gas canister in front of the burning tourism office during a demonstration against rising living costs and in solidarity with students’ grievances in Lyon, France, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

A protesters holds a French flag during a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Lyon, France, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

A woman walks past burned-out cars after a quiet night Monday under curfew, the first since weekend protests over the cost of living turned into rioting and looting across France, in Paris, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)