AST SpaceMobile / Rakuten Mobile (Japan) — AST SpaceMobile notified the FCC on 4 Aug 2026 that it had started direct-to-cell operations in Japan with Rakuten Mobile — its first commercial service activation outside the United States. Every Japanese authorization is in hand, including a user-equipment licence from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, after Japan cleared low-Earth-orbit satellites in June to link standard phones over the 700 MHz band. The BlueBird arrays connect unmodified 4G and 5G handsets with no added hardware.
AST SpaceMobile — AST SpaceMobile orbited its first commercial BlueBird satellites — the largest commercial arrays ever flown, purpose-built for broadband direct to phones.
SpaceX / T-Mobile — Starlink's first direct-to-cell satellites sent text messages to ordinary, unmodified phones — the opening of the phone-to-satellite era.
AST SpaceMobile 
SpaceX