Rakuten and AST SpaceMobile are launching Rakuten AST, a joint venture to build a D2D satellite network in Japan🚀
With $1B in support from Japan’s MIC, Rakuten AST will build disaster-resilient, uninterrupted communications infrastructure for Japan.
https://t.co/qvvmzdFyG3
@thekookreport My base case has been we'd get DPAS for a long time now.
I do think you're giving the shorts too much credit though. Shorting one of a company's ($SPCX) biggest customers ($ASTS) as a hedge doesn't exactly demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the sector.
@CatSE___ApeX___ $ASTS will become a huge part of US foreign policy, especially when it comes to Africa and the strategy of 'getting in before the Chinese'. This could decide whether billions of Africans are shopping on Temu or Amazon.
@elonmusk What is actually going on in Ukraine, Elon, is they were invaded by Russia. You're right, some clever businessmen will profit from this, but it is you, not them, who are condeming ordinary Ukrainians to die, undefended from indescriminate drone attacks. Why?
@peter_adderton Peter, you are putting the cart before the horse. $T invested in $ASTS nearly 10 years ago, when the idea of connecting to a mobile phone from LEO was considered cloud cuckoo land! $SPCX are the ones forced to invest in more towers. Talk about going backwards.
@Defiantclient2 Probably not so relevant to the Japanese market, but MNOs will want to use satellite connectivity in their Christmas marketing. Having even a patchy service running will allow them to say "satellite service available NOW! keep loved ones safe at this special time of year"
@spacanpanman Still struggling to see benefit of moving from high margin global satellite model to low margin local tower model. Is this all in the name of achieving vertical integration? Is control of wireless data transmission within a single country more important than profits?