Rakuten and AST SpaceMobile form a government-funded direct-to-device venture for Japan
Rakuten AST will deploy mid-band satellites for service to ordinary smartphones in Japan by the end of March 2029, backed by up to 148 billion yen from the MIC J-LEO project.
Rakuten Group and AST SpaceMobile have agreed to set up Rakuten AST, a joint venture to build a satellite direct-to-device network for Japan. The companies said the agreement was made on 6 November 2026. Rakuten holds 51% of the voting rights and an AST SpaceMobile subsidiary holds 49%.
Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) selected the proposal under its J-LEO (Japan Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communications) project. The venture is expected to receive up to 148 billion yen, about US$1 billion, over roughly three years. The plan is to deploy satellites that work with mid-band spectrum and start domestic service by the end of March 2029, serving unmodified smartphones. The base station equipment sits on the ground, so Japanese operators can run the network themselves. The release also describes emergency roaming between operators during disasters.
According to AST, its next-generation satellites will carry a phased array of about 223 m², and its Block 1 BlueBird satellites have reached a peak downlink of 98.9 Mbit/s to standard phones. Light Reading reports that AST has 13 satellites in operation, with orbits at 505 to 590 km and 715 to 740 km. On 10 November it reported that AST had pushed its target of about 45 satellites in orbit to mid-2027. Separately, Rakuten Mobile plans commercial-environment tests of satellite-to-mobile service within 2026.
Why it matters
A phone transmits a fraction of a watt through a small antenna, so a link to a satellite several hundred kilometres away closes only if the satellite brings large antenna gain. That is why AST builds very large arrays rather than many small satellites. The Japanese venture is also a different model from operator partnerships in the US: a state-funded, domestically operated network aimed at disaster resilience. The 2029 date is a target, and AST’s launch schedule has already slipped.