Q3 revenue nearly tripled! AST SpaceMobile (ASTS.US) accelerates “sky”: 45 satellites in orbit by 2027

The Zhitong Finance App learned that AST SpaceMobile (ASTS.US), a satellite direct-connected mobile broadband company, announced the results for the third quarter of 2026 after the US stock market on November 10, Beijing time. The company's revenue for the quarter nearly tripled over the same period last year, and significant progress covering the entire “manufacturing - launch - financing - commercialization” chain was also revealed; however, with large-scale networking investment, net losses expanded simultaneously, and this “space telecom operator” is still at a critical stage of burning money to build a network and wait for revenue to be released.

Earnings are starting to be realized, and losses are still growing

According to financial reports, the company's revenue for the third quarter was 42.3 million US dollars, up about 188% from 14.7 million US dollars in the same period last year, mainly due to the delivery of gateway equipment and the achievement of US government project milestones, which is in line with the company's quarterly revenue pace in 2026. Net loss attributable to common shareholders increased to US$132.4 million (US$122.9 million in the same period last year); total operating expenses were US$211 million, including US$77.4 million in depreciation and equity incentives.

The month-on-month improvement on the cost side is puzzling — total expenses for the second quarter reached US$329.1 million, mainly due to the one-time inclusion of US$125.9 million in involuntary conversion losses. The adjusted operating expenses after excluding these factors were US$133.6 million, an increase of US$14.5 million over the previous month, reflecting that R&D and engineering investment is still climbing. In terms of cash flow, operating activities in the first nine months of this year consumed US$314.5 billion in cash, and expenditure on the purchase and construction of fixed assets reached US$1.154 billion; as of September 30, the company held about US$3.2 billion in cash and restricted cash, while net long-term debt rose to US$4.1 billion from US$2.2 billion at the beginning of the year.

Two major highlights of commercialization: service launch and government orders

The company reiterated that it will maintain its annual revenue guide of 150 million to 200 million US dollars, and stated that the recent signing of new contracts may bring room for improvement; at the same time, it also confirmed that it aims to achieve initial and intermittent nationwide coverage in key markets such as the US, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom by the end of 2026, and launch the first batch for strategic partners. Government business has become an important increase — the company has obtained an advanced space-based sensing capability (SB-AMTI) contract from the US Space Force, involving revenue of about 100 million US dollars, and has accumulated 16 US government contracts; in addition, the company and AT&T have verified satellite beam switching between terrestrial networks and space-based cellular broadband networks for ordinary smartphones, and obtained US DPAS priority ratings through dual-use government and commercial satellite programs to guarantee launch resources.

Internationally, the company announced that it has reached a J-LEO agreement with Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and partner Rakuten to obtain about 1 billion US dollars in non-diluting capital for the manufacture and launch of mid-band satellites. In addition, the US quasi-government financing pipeline totaling about 1.2 billion US dollars is poised for 2027.

Manufacturing and launch: production capacity climbing+own rocket

On the manufacturing side, the two plants in Texas are operating at full capacity, production progressed to BlueBird 51, and full-scale ASIC integration was transferred from BlueBird 34. The company aims to reach production capacity of 6 ASIC satellites per month in December this year. At the orbital end, BlueBird 11, 12, and 13 are already in orbit; stars 14, 15, and 16 arrived at Cape Canaveral in September to be launched by SpaceX; stars 17, 18, and 19 are expected to leave the factory at the end of November and launch in the first quarter of 2027 aboard a blue origin rocket; stars 20 to 25 will be shipped in December and January. Management aims to have about 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by mid-2027, and a launch agreement for the total deployment of more than 100 satellites from 2027 to 2028 has been settled.

More ambitiously, the company simultaneously released the self-developed reusable rocket “Blacklift” — a 20-ton launch vehicle that uses Miranda and Vira engines with more than ten years of research and development and flight verification. It can launch up to 5 BlueBird satellites at a time. It is planned to be launched by the end of 2028. The intention is to get rid of dependence on third-party launches, control the pace of deployment, and improve launch economy. At the same time, the company warned that transactions related to Firefly Aerospace may not be completed, and there is a risk that the rocket will not be developed or built on time.

Founder, Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan (Abel Avellan) said, “We have advanced a number of important initiatives to support the global expansion of space-based cellular broadband networks, and are expected to cooperate with all major mobile network operators in the US and Europe. The commercial ecosystem has the potential to cover more than 60 operators and more than 3 billion users.” He also emphasized that through a “partner first” strategy, the company's scope of service and accessibility (TAM) is being expanded beyond cellular broadband for traditional direct-connect terminals.

The narrative focus of AST SpaceMobile's earnings report has moved from “storytelling” to “catch up”: the year-on-year increase in revenue shows that the business model has begun to be fulfilled, and government orders and Japanese pro bono funding have significantly eased the pressure on dilution financing; however, the first nine months of capital expenditure of $1.15 billion and doubling long-term debt remind investors that the real test is whether manufacturing and launch can meet the schedule — in particular, whether the “intermittent national service” can light up as scheduled before the end of the year, and the networking target for 45 satellites by mid-2027. Once the pace is met, the company will become the world's first space-based broadband operator for civilian smartphones; conversely, the scissor gap between burning money and debt will continue to weigh down valuations.