AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) said Wednesday its BlueBird 8, 9, and 10 satellites successfully launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
The 2,400-square-foot arrays are designed to enable cellular broadband data directly to ordinary smartphones at peak speeds of nearly 200 Mbps, the company said.
The system is designed to work with standard 4G and 5G mobile devices and integrate with terrestrial mobile networks, and the company has commercial agreements with nearly 60 mobile operators worldwide, AST SpaceMobile said.
Shares of the company were up 4.3% in Wednesday premarket trading.