What's happening behind the scenes at ASTS?

What's happening behind the scenes at ASTS?

Pay close attention

Our research team uncovered a series of details about deep involvement in $ASTS by senior Meta executives.

At the end of April, photos were published showing several Meta executives visiting ASTS' satellite manufacturing facility.

We dug a bit deeper and discovered that this collaboration is not new.

In its annual report, $ASTS explicitly states ''Collaboration with META for D2D optimization'' (Direct-to-Device optimization).

This includes joint work with Vodafone and Meta on WhatsApp, especially on projects in Europe.

But this visit is unusual, mainly due to the number of executives and also the statements that followed.

Its head of global network infrastructure emphasizes the expansion of the partnership with $ASTS in a long LinkedIn post, in which he writes the following:

As I said, the last few weeks have been about space - we spent a lot of insightful time with AST SpaceMobile and left truly inspired by the boldness of their approach to space-based connectivity.

What stands out is how fundamentally different the model is. Not thousands of small satellites, but several massive, high-power arrays designed to connect directly to standard smartphones. He then goes into more technical details, writing the following:

As a central pillar of user interaction in many markets, #WhatsApp offers a robust platform on which our companies can innovate and expand. What is very much implied by this whole story is that the partnership with Meta is very deep.

with the goal that everyone in the world can connect to social networks via satellites, with an emphasis on WhatsApp.

Think of this as direct competition between Meta and Starlink.

To call on WhatsApp in a place without reception, you will no longer need Starlink - will the function be built into WhatsApp?

Think of the enormous number of customers on WhatsApp - billions of people...

Could the broader context be mind-blowing?

Meta has 3.3 billion active WhatsApp users, including millions of small businesses in emerging markets like India and Brazil where reception coverage is low and where they rely mainly on WhatsApp.

Could Meta's plan be to turn WhatsApp Plus into a paid communication service that competes with Starlink?

If so, this could be a huge change in the global telecommunications world.

And ASTS?

sits exactly at the critical juncture of satellite communication...