On Nov. 6, 2026, Rakuten Group and AST SpaceMobile agreed to form Rakuten AST, Inc., a joint venture that will construct a direct-to-device communications network across Japan using low Earth orbit satellites for smartphones sold commercially. Rakuten Group and AST SpaceMobile described the venture as a means to support communications infrastructure in Japan during disasters and other emergencies. Headquartered in Tokyo and led by Chief Executive Ryoji Osaka, the venture will begin with 100 million yen in initial capital.
Rakuten Group will control 51 percent of voting rights in Rakuten AST, and AST SpaceMobile‘s Japanese subsidiary will hold the remaining 49 percent. The partners planned to establish the joint venture in November 2026. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications picked a joint proposal from Rakuten’s preparatory company and Rakuten Mobile for the publicly solicited J-LEO project. Support for Rakuten AST is projected to total up to 148 billion yen, or roughly USD 1 billion, over about three years under J-LEO, administered by the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan to support deployment of the sovereign constellation across Japan.
AST SpaceMobile will supply the satellites for Japan’s sovereign direct-to-device constellation. The J-LEO Project will rely on the largest communication satellites ever placed in low Earth orbit to build domestic infrastructure for direct satellite-to-smartphone links and stronger economic security. The network will run on commercial mid-band spectrum to provide high-throughput services such as video streaming, voice calls and social media using regular smartphones that need no changes or extra equipment. Ground-based base station equipment will go onto domestic Japanese infrastructure, letting Japanese telecommunications operators manage and run the network flexibly and on their own.
Rakuten AST expects to start domestic operations no later than the end of March 2029. Rakuten Mobile also intends to begin testing its satellite-to-mobile service in a commercial setting during 2026 under a strategic partnership with AST SpaceMobile that dates to March 2020. Through Rakuten AST, Rakuten and Rakuten Mobile plan to create a non-terrestrial network run from within Japan.
The project seeks to keep cellular broadband running during emergencies such as natural disasters through a framework for emergency inter-carrier roaming among mobile network operators. Rakuten AST will build and run a resilient communications network meant to keep priority connections stable whatever outside conditions arise, including during emergencies. The project also aims to bring cellular broadband to parts of Japan with little or no ground-based coverage.
Outside Japan, Rakuten AST intends to cooperate with AST SpaceMobile on worldwide service for customers, pending regulatory approval. Rakuten Mobile and AST SpaceMobile will cooperate on AI edge computing and AI-driven spectrum management to explore faster data services and industry tools for IoT, logistics, infrastructure monitoring, construction and agriculture.
AST SpaceMobile is developing the BlueBird satellite constellation as a possible wholesale backbone for carriers seeking space-based coverage without operating their own satellite fleets. AST points to finalized commercial pacts with Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone and stc, plus over 50 partner memoranda covering close to 3 billion subscribers. AST says its system is the first and only space-based cellular broadband offering for unmodified phones, based on its intellectual property and patent holdings, to offer 4G and 5G to nearly 6 billion subscribers around the world.
AST SpaceMobile posted a Q3 2026 net loss of US$132.38 million and US$554.3 million across nine months, while setting aside roughly US$800 million for its Blacklift launch plan. AST SpaceMobile said on Nov. 6 that Firefly Aerospace would provide Miranda engines for Blacklift, a rocket it plans to build by itself.
Mickey Mikitani, chair and CEO of Rakuten Group, called the project a central part of Rakuten Mobile’s network strategy and said it will help build disaster-resistant communications infrastructure and improve Japan’s communications environment. He also said Rakuten will make better use of capital and seek new opportunities in satellite communications. Abel Avellan, Founder, chair and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said the effort marks a major milestone and confirms that space-based cellular broadband serves as a vital addition to terrestrial wireless networks. “This represents a significant milestone for AST SpaceMobile,” Avellan said.
Avellan added that the venture will support broadband access everywhere people work, live and travel, and will reinforce AST’s worldwide network using capacity available outside Japan. Rakuten Group began in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace and now counts 2.2 billion members worldwide, about 30,000 employees and activity in 30 countries and regions.
Rakuten put money into AST SpaceMobile in 2020 as a long-standing partner and backer. The effort rests on programmatic ties created when the United States and Japan designated AST SpaceMobile and Rakuten infrastructure under a bilateral technology accord, building on earlier field trials that followed AST SpaceMobile’s start of direct-to-cellular operations in Japan.
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