Satellite-powered video calls are coming: Verizon and AT&T complete first tests

What just happened? Verizon and AT&T have separately announced major milestones that could accelerate the launch of commercial cellphone-to-satellite video calls. According to their press releases, both carriers have successfully completed their first Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) video calls between smartphones on their respective networks and devices connected via AST SpaceMobile's new Bluebird LEO satellites. AT&T completed its first two-way voice calls using AST's BlueWalker 3 satellite in April 2023, marking the first time any company achieved a direct voice connection from space to an unmodified smartphone. According to the company's press release at the time, the first voice call was made from Midland, Texas to Rakuten engineers in Japan over AT&T spectrum using a Samsung Galaxy S22. The carrier upped the ante a couple of months later when it completed the first-ever over-the-top video application call over AT&T spectrum. In September 2023, AT&T and AST completed the first dir ... Read full article.