AST SpaceMobile launches direct-to-cellular service in Japan with Rakuten
AST SpaceMobile · Rakuten Mobile
AST SpaceMobile began active satellite-to-phone service in Japan alongside Rakuten Mobile, its first commercial market outside the US.
what happened
AST SpaceMobile began active direct-to-cellular (D2C) service operations in Japan on August 4, 2026, alongside Rakuten Mobile, per SatNews, delivering supplemental cellular coverage across Japan's main islands, mountainous remote regions, and offshore maritime zones to unmodified 4G and 5G smartphones. Rakuten holds roughly 15.51 million AST SpaceMobile shares, about a 5.3% equity stake. SatNews reports the expansion is backed by a $926 million Japanese government funding allocation. That funding commitment, part of Japan's Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communications Project (J-LEO), was first reported by Light Reading in July, which stated Japan's government committed 150 billion yen ($922 million) distributed over three years to the Rakuten-AST joint venture.
why it matters
This is AST SpaceMobile's first commercial D2C service activation outside the United States, a proof point for direct-to-device satellite connectivity scaling into a national telecom market rather than staying a US-only capability. Japan structured the funding explicitly to reduce dependence on Starlink's direct-to-cell service, a template regulators in other markets weighing satellite-to-phone sovereignty may study. For resellers and telcos elsewhere, it signals AST has a working government-co-funded path to market entry that doesn't rely solely on US carrier partnerships.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- AST SpaceMobile, Rakuten Mobile
- Category
- product
- Impact
- major
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-08-04
- Published
- 2026-09-04 17:27 UTC