Telus Appears to Sign with AST SpaceMobile for Satellite-to-Phone Service

It looks like Telus is officially joining the race to eliminate cellular dead zones in Canada. A new global partner map from AST SpaceMobile, shared during Mobile World Congress, suggests that Telus has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring satellite-to-phone connectivity to its customers.

While Telus has not yet made a formal announcement, its inclusion on the updated partner list indicates it is finally aligning with Bell, which has partnered with AST SpaceMobile since last year. Together, the two Canadian carriers appear to be betting on a satellite network that can talk directly to the standard LTE and 5G smartphones Canadians already own.

iPhone in Canada has reached out to Telus for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Closing the Gap on Dead Zones

If confirmed, this partnership would mark a major shift in the Canadian space race. For years, remote hikers, workers in the resource sector, and travelers in the North have dealt with massive coverage gaps. AST SpaceMobile’s technology aims to fix this by using massive BlueBird satellites that act like cell towers in space, providing a lifeline in areas where building physical infrastructure is impossible.

The service is designed to work with unmodified devices, meaning you wouldn’t need a specialized satellite phone or bulky hardware to send a text or make a call from the middle of the wilderness. It will bring a huge benefit for safety for those exploring in the wilderness and will eliminate the need for a satellite phone.

The Great Satellite Divide

With Telus seemingly on board, the Canadian satellite landscape is now clearly split into two camps:

• The AST SpaceMobile Camp: Telus and Bell. They are leaning on AST’s BlueBird constellation, which is targeting intermittent service in early 2026.
• The Starlink Camp: Rogers. The company is currently testing its own direct-to-cell capabilities using SpaceX’s massive satellite network through Starlink. This service is available to any Canadian for $15/month.

3 Billion People Under One Network

The updated map shows that AST SpaceMobile has been busy. The company now has agreements with 50 mobile network operators globally, including new additions like Sunrise in Switzerland and Taiwan Mobile. Combined, these partnerships represent nearly 3 billion potential subscribers, which is roughly a third of all mobile users on Earth.

AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan previously noted that the company was “just shy of 3 billion subscribers” under agreement, a milestone that this new batch of partners, including Telus, seems to have finally pushed them over.

To date, there are only 6 operational commercial satellites in orbit by the company. SpaceX’s Starlink has about 9,800 or so satellites in orbit and operational, with more going online every week. But only about 650 of these support the Direct to Cell satellite network.

In September 2024, SpaceX helped launch the first five commercial BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile, despite Starlink being a direct competitor. Its BlueBird 6 next-gen Block 2 satellite launched back in December by theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is India’s national space agency. The next BlueBird 7 launch is slated to launch this month through Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and its New Glenn rocket.

Update March 3, 3:30pm PST: Telus has confirmed the deal with AST SpaceMobile.