AST SpaceMobile announced on October 26, 2026 a new step toward bringing space-based cellular broadband to Brazil: the company secured S-band spectrum authorization from Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and regulatory approval for secondary use of the 700 MHz band. This is CONFIRMED, as it comes from the company's own official statement via Business Wire — but it does not mean the service is already live in the country.
Under Anatel's authorization, AST may use 15+15 MHz in the S-band, totaling 30 MHz, for its planned service in Brazil. In addition, agreements signed with four regional mobile operators support the authorized secondary use of up to 10+10 MHz in the 700 MHz band, within each operator's licensed areas. Together, the two tracks reach up to 50 MHz of described access, with different roles: the S-band is the authorized spectrum, while the 700 MHz use depends on the partner operators' areas.
The statement does not name the four regional operators. The facts should be kept separate: on October 23, Brisanet had reported a commercial agreement with AST alongside Unifique and iez! Telecom, the subject of Geekiki's earlier article — but the October 26 statement speaks of four regional operators without listing them, so the two announcements should not be treated as the same list.
The company also plans to invest in four gateways in Brazil. These ground stations will link the BlueBird satellite network to operators' networks, routing voice, video and broadband data between space and terrestrial networks. Planning is under way, according to the company, to support deployment and integration with participating operators.
The Brazilian context explains the interest: Brazil has more than 210 million people and about 8.5 million square kilometers, and the company cites assessments that roughly half of the federal and state highway network and two-thirds of agricultural land lack 4G or 5G coverage. The proposal is to complement terrestrial networks, not replace them, focusing on areas where building conventional infrastructure is difficult — and on ordinary, unmodified phones, according to the company.
AST SpaceMobile founder, chairman and CEO Abel Avellan said Brazil's connectivity ambition matches the scale of the country and that the goal is to work with operators to give every subscriber a path to cellular broadband from space. The company also says it now has more than 60 operator partners worldwide, with more than 3 billion subscribers combined.
What remains unclear: the company itself says service availability will expand as satellite capacity and ground infrastructure are deployed and integration progresses, subject to applicable authorizations, device compatibility and commercial arrangements. In other words, authorized spectrum and signed agreements are the regulatory and commercial foundation — not a launch date, a price, or coverage already available to consumers.
Image credit: AST SpaceMobile publicity image, reproduced in the Business Wire statement.
Update: this article is an update to AST SpaceMobile's earlier Brazil agreement covered by Geekiki.
Sources
- AST SpaceMobile statement via Business Wire (October 26, 2026)
- Advanced Television: AST SpaceMobile gets access to Brazil
- eeNews Europe: AST SpaceMobile Secures Spectrum in Brazil
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, cross-checked against public posts and internet sources, including the official statement cited. Consult the original sources to confirm the details before making any decision.
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