Page 69 - SAMENA Trends - August-September 2025

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Starlink Yet to Submit Application to Deploy Satellite Internet Service in Vietnam

The Authority of Telecommunications
under the Ministry of Information and
Communications (MST) has yet to receive
a license application for Starlink satellite
internet services in Vietnam. Nguyen
Phong Nha, deputy general director of
the Authority of Telecommunications,
made the statement at a press briefing
on August 5. He added that Starlink has
received approval from the government
for testing in Vietnam. Currently, the
authority is preparing the contents with
related ministries to be able to approve the
license soon when SpaceX, the company altitude of 550 km. The service is available Doan Quang Hoan, vice president of the
that owns Starlink, submits the application in more than 125 countries and territories, Vietnam Radio and Electronics Association
to deploy immediately. According to the with five million users. When the process is and former director of the Radio Frequency
MST, the Starlink service can be deployed completed, Vietnam will be the fifth country Department, satellite internet can quickly
three months after the license is issued. in Southeast Asia to have Starlink satellite cover all the signal depressions in Vietnam,
Starlink is a low-orbit satellite internet internet, after the Philippines, Malaysia, which the country is striving to do.
system with 6,750 satellites flying at an Indonesia, and Timor Leste. According to

AST SpaceMobile Agrees to Acquire Global S-Band Spectrum Priority Rights

Held Under the ITU

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. the company building the first and only proprietary ASICs were designed with S-Band capabilities in mind.
space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by With these new spectrum priority rights, we will be in a position to
everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and gov- bring services in S-Band to targeted markets around the world,” said
ernment applications, announced an agreement to acquire glob- Abel Avellan, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile. “Alongside
al S-Band spectrum priority rights held under the International our existing global 3GPP spectrum strategy and planned L-Band
Telecommunication Union (ITU). “Our revolutionary satellites and spectrum strategy in the U.S. and Canada, we would be capable
of expanding subscriber capacity by offering the vast majority of
countries around the world the full AST SpaceMobile network ca-
pabilities, together with our mobile network operator partners, en-
abling a true broadband experience directly from space to everyday
smartphones and with a goal of peak data transmission speeds of
up to 120 Mbps.” On August 5, 2025, AST SpaceMobile (the “Com-
pany”) entered into an agreement to acquire an entity that holds
certain S-Band ITU priority rights to MSS (Mobile Satellite Services)
frequencies in the range of 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz,
for use in low Earth orbit (the “Transaction”). These spectrum pri-
ority rights will provide AST SpaceMobile a path to offer services
in these spectrum bands around the world, subject to country-lev-
el regulatory approvals, supplementing the Company’s core glob-
al 3GPP cellular spectrum strategy. The Transaction has a total
consideration of $64.5 million, to be paid in stock or cash at the
Company’s election, with $26 million paid at closing and deferred
consideration of $38.5 million, a portion of which is subject to
achievement of performance-based milestones. The Transaction
is expected to close during the second half of 2025. The closing is
contingent upon the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
UBS Securities LLC is acting as financial advisor to AST Space-
Mobile and McGuireWoods LLP is acting as legal counsel to AST
SpaceMobile.
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