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Verizon Taps AST for Satellite Coverage

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May 29, 2024, 8:38 AM by Rich Brome @richbrome

Verizon is finally joining AT&T and T-Mobile in making plans to offer satellite coverage for existing phones in cellular "dead zones" across the whole US. Verizon will join AT&T in using AST SpaceMobile, a company that has already conducted a series of successful tests of this technology with its test satellite and AT&T. AST is preparing its initial batch of five commercial satellites for launch starting later this year. Verizon will use band 5 for satellite service. Band 5 is a low-frequency band at 850 MHz, and was the very first band to be used for commercial cellular service in the US. AT&T made a firm commitment to AST earlier this month. T-Mobile will use a similar system from SpaceX that uses new Starlink satellites. All three offerings will work with existing phones without modifications, thanks to new satellites being launched with massive antenna arrays.

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