TELUS completes first satellite-to-smartphone test with AST SpaceMobile, targets service within a year

TELUS says it has completed its first test linking its wireless network with satellites in orbit, a step toward letting customers call, text and use data on ordinary smartphones in parts of Canada with no cell towers. The Vancouver-based carrier and Texas-based AST SpaceMobile said Monday they had completed their first integration test between TELUS’s network and AST’s low-Earth-orbit satellites, and that the service is expected to be available to TELUS customers within the next year, according to a joint release.

The companies pitched the service as a way to keep people connected along remote highways, in national parks and wilderness areas, and at work sites in natural resources, energy, construction and forestry, and as another way to reach 9-1-1 in an emergency. Customers would use eligible smartphones they already own, with no special equipment, the release said. TELUS did not say which phones will qualify, what the service will cost or where the test was carried out.

“Connecting smartphones directly to satellites is opening up new possibilities for how Canadians stay connected,” said Nazim Benhadid, TELUS’s chief technology officer, calling the test “a major step forward in extending cellular coverage to places where service isn’t available today.” Chris Ivory, AST SpaceMobile’s chief commercial officer, said it showed how carriers “can seamlessly extend their existing networks with space-based cellular broadband using everyday smartphones.”

The test follows a commercial agreement announced in March, under which TELUS said it would invest in ground-based satellite infrastructure and take an equity stake in AST, The Globe and Mail reported at the time. TELUS did not disclose the size of the investment, and the partners were then aiming for a launch in late 2026. AST raised more than US$3.5 billion in 2025 on revenue of just over US$70 million and reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of US$342 million, the Globe reported.

TELUS is chasing its two largest rivals. Rogers, which works with SpaceX’s Starlink, already offers Rogers Satellite, which supports text messaging, text-to-911 and selected satellite-ready apps such as WhatsApp voice and video calls on compatible phones, in most outdoor areas of Canada south of the 58th parallel with a clear view of the sky; it is open to customers of any carrier. Bell is also an AST partner, having first invested through its venture arm in 2021.

In July, Bell said it had finished building its first Canadian direct-to-device satellite ground station, in Quebec, and had completed integration tests of texting, broadband data, voice calls and video calls on standard smartphones, according to a Bell release. It said more ground stations were under construction in Ontario, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador so that customer traffic would be carried through domestic infrastructure and data would stay in Canada.

How quickly any of this reaches customers depends partly on AST’s launch pace. Its three most recently launched BlueBird satellites are working normally and the next three have left its factory in Midland, Texas, for Cape Canaveral, Advanced Television reported on Oct. 3. But the shipment came about a month behind schedule, and AST’s goal of having about 45 satellites in orbit has slipped from the end of this year to early 2027, leaving it to build and launch another 29 in four to five months, the publication said.

Sources: TELUS and AST SpaceMobile release; The Globe and Mail (March 2026); Bell Canada release (July 2026); Rogers Satellite; Advanced Television.