AST SpaceMobile Inc (ASTS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by, welcome to the AST SpaceMobile fourth quarter 2023 business update call.

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Scott Wisniewski, Chief Strategy Officer of AST SpaceMobile.

Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone.

Let me refer you to page 2 of the presentation, which contains our Safe Harbor disclaimer.

During today's call, we may make certain forward looking statements.

These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and as a result are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Many factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements on this call.

For more information about these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Risk Factors section of AST SpaceMobile's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other documents filed by AST SpaceMobile with the SEC from time to time.

Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and the company specifically disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call.

Also, after our initial remarks, we will be starting our Q&A section with questions submitted in advance by our shareholders.

Now referring to page 3 for those of you who are new to our company and mission, there are over 5 billion mobile phones in use today around the world, but many of us still experience gaps in coverage as we live, work and travel.

Additionally, there are billions of people without cellular broadband who remain unconnected to the global digital economy.

These markets that we are pursuing are massive and the problem we are solving is important and touches nearly all of us.

In this backdrop, AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network and space to operate directly with everyday unmodified mobile devices, supported by our extensive IP and patent portfolio and design for both commercial and government use.

With that, I would like to introduce Chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan.

Thank you, Scott.

I would like to welcome everybody to our Q4 2023 business update call.

It had been an incredibly busy few months here at AST SpaceMobile, and I will walk you through update on our key areas of focus today.

First, at the start of the year, we announced the strategic investments from AT&T, Google and Vodafone, which represent a vote of confidence in our technology and business model.

With this, we have the necessary funding on hand to execute near-term strategic plan for the launch of five 700 square-foot Block 1 BlueBird satellites and the initial next-generation 2,400 square foot BlueBird, which will surpass Block 1 at the largest phased array into in low Earth orbit.

We're also very excited to continuing to advance discussion with additional strategic partners following the blueprint for strategic investment alongside commercial payments.

Another great development on our commercialization was a new contract award we announced with United State Government through a prime contractor, which we believe will open the door for dual use commercial and government applications of our satellites.

On the regulatory front, we have received great news, recently with the new FCC rules, which we provide a pathway to log over 200 megahertz of spectrum for direct-to-device to support the rollout of our technology.

The FCC board at March 14 to approve this Supplemental Coverage from Space, which was published in February.

This should facilitate a AST's SpaceMobile FCC obligation to provide commercial services in the US.

This will simplify the overall application process by making the standard rules, which will cover the majority of AST SpaceMobile applications.

We anticipate many regulatory entities globally will follow the new US regulatory regime to regulate our services.

We're starting to see these in large countries like Brazil.

Moving to manufacturing, our 185,000 square foot Texas facility are fully operational with production assembly and testing.

Unfortunately, production was negatively impacted primarily by two suppliers, leading to delays in integration and testing for these five 700 square-foot Block 1 BlueBirds.

While we have also face initial challenges on the manufacturing of our new great microns to be used for Block 1 and Block 2 in order to sell at a production of our next satellite and reduce dependency on outside suppliers.

We acquire a license to manufacture one of the components and replace the order supply with our own IP and design.

At the same time were rapidly stabilizing our micron production line.

This is important because these are the same Micron building blocks for our next satellite launch.

With the supplier fixes, we will be able to manufacture in house and through our third parties of our own IP, approximately 95% of all satellite subsystem for our next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellite, securing our supply chain further.

Next I can share updates on our Orbital launches to provide a near term top line.

We expect that the five 700 foot Block 1 BlueBird will be transported from our assembly facility to the launch site between July and August 2024.

And looking ahead, we have secured an additional launch contract for the first 2,400 square foot next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellite with a contract launch window from December 2024 to March 2025, which will surpass Block 1 as the largest phase array in loaded orbits.

Also we announced last week our custom ASIC entering the tape-out phase, which is planned to enable 120 megabits big data rate on 40 megahertz spectrum channels.

These novel custom and low-power architecture was developed to enable up to tenfold improvement in processing bandwidth on each next-generation 2,400 square feet Block 2 BlueBird satellites.

The design of our custom ASIC with our processing balances of approximately 10,000 megahertz per satellite, along with the face with the large phased array is the enabler of true space-based cellular broadband with a relatively small number of satellites.

These sales will represent over four years equivalent to an estimated 150 man years of intensive work will approximate about [$145 million] of development on the ASIC alone.

And lastly, in addition to the strategic discussion referred to earlier, we are very excited to have received three non-binding letter of interest for non-dealer requested governmental funding.

As a result, we have initiated the process with these funding sources.

And soon, we will be explaining more to you about it.

Turning to page 5, the business from AT&T, Google and Vodafone are of a great significant for us.

They are some of our largest prospective customers alongside the US government.

With Google, in particular, the agreement to collaborate on product development will be a great benefit for our prospective MNO customers.

We had agreements and understanding with more than 40 mobile network operator globally, which have over 2 billion subscribers globally.

AT&T and Google joined Vodafone, Rakuten American Tower and Bell Canada as an investors.

I cannot be more proud to have these great organizations alongside us on the execution of our mission.

And as I stated before, we continue to advance discussion with additional strategic partner following the blueprint of strategic investments alongside commercial payments.

Turning to page 6.

A few weeks ago, we announced our new contract award with United States Government through a prime contractor.

Want to take a step back on what is the opportunity here.

Our large phased array antenna technology in this space is able to address many potential opportunity for mission critical capabilities in the government sector.

The large aperture on high-power deliver into orbit at a low cost compare with historical benchmark feed the desired governmental model for capturing commercial networks with dual use capabilities.

And while we remain focused on a large commercial opportunity for our business, we're excited about initiatives underway with the US government as well.

We have begun recording the initial revenue under this contract in Q1 2024.

Also, there are potential other awards, including additional phases of this contract available to us in calendar year 2024.

For Turning to page 7, I want to take a moment to walk through why haven't our ASIC is really a big deal and it's critical to achieve true broadband phone space.

Our Novel, custom and low-power architecture was developed to enable up to tenfold improvement in processing bandwidth on each satellite.

Satellite, which will be lighter, cheaper to produce and will require less mass to orbit.

The tape-out would be completed with TSMC, the world's leading foundries following war with leaders in the semiconductor industry over the last years.

For those of you who are not familiar with the industry jargon, the tape-out means that we and our development partners complete the design of the ASIC.

After four years of work and $45 million of investment, we have now formally handed over those designs to TSMC to produce a chip for the initial set of ASIC to enable the 2,400 square foot Next Generation Block 2 BlueBirds, which we expect to receive later this year.

I am extremely proud of the team effort to reach this critical milestone.

Our ASIC, along with our large antenna, will be enable up to 120 megabits per second data rates per beam on a 40 megahertz channels and 10,000 megahertz of processing bandwidth.

That combined with our large phased array is a key enabler for true broadband from a space to the phone that you have already in your pocket.

I will now pass it to Scott to provide a brief regulatory update.

Thank you, Abel.

On page 8, I'll take us through some of the important progress on the regulatory front.

To provide a reminder for everyone.

We made our first filings with the SEC back in 2020, and we've been in front of them regularly around direct-to-device using standard unmodified cellular phones from a very early stage.

Importantly, the unanimous decision to adopt the new rules in March facilitates our SEC application to provide commercial service in the US because it specifically enables over 200 megahertz of low-band frequencies for direct-to-device use.

And just prior to this SEC vote, we also filed an updated application to reflect the licensing jurisdiction with the US.

This represents a closer strategic alignment of AST SpaceMobile network build-out and future network operations in the United States.

And internationally, Brazil announced an initial regulatory framework for direct-to-devices as well, this framework enables us to test in Brazil with TIM Brazil and Claro, a subsidiary of America Movil.

And with that, I'll hand it off to Sean for our financial update.

Thanks, Scott, and good afternoon, everyone.

The AST SpaceMobile business continued to make progress this quarter with a significant fund raising in January, continued work on the regulatory front and a substantial level of activity in our assembly integration and testing facility in Midland focusing on the production of five BB 1 satellites.

I would also like to point out that we have entered the tape-out phase of our custom ASIC chip.

The ASIC chip will provide for increases in processing capacity that will significantly raise the inventory of gigabytes on future planned satellites we can sell through our M&O partners to end users.

ASIC design has been a normal four year process, supported by a large investment, which we believe will be difficult for competing systems to develop from a standing start.

As we get closer to the completion of the production of our five Block 1 satellites, I want to recognize and thank the hard-working teams of engineers, technicians and suppliers for completing this incredible task.

We believe our strategy of backward integration into the assembly integration and testing of satellites will enable us to build our constellation years ahead of an outsourced strategy and at a lower cost.

I want to move on to reviewing our key operating metrics for the fourth quarter that are displayed on slide 9.

On the first chart, we see the fourth quarter of 2023, we had non-GAAP adjusted cash operating expenses of $38.6 million versus $37.3 million in the third quarter.

Non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses excludes certain non-cash operating costs, including depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation.

Our fourth quarter non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses increased by $1.3 million versus the third quarter.

Our research and development expenses rose by $1.5 million this quarter due to increased expenditures on engineering models and prototypes in connection with our manufacturing process.

Our R&D expenses consist primarily of nonrecurring development activities for which we typically engage third party vendors and payments are based on the completion of milestone.

Our engineering services expenses increased by $0.5 million and our general administration expenses decreased by $0.6 million in the fourth quarter as compared to the third quarter.

Turning towards the second chart on this page, our capital expenditures for the fourth quarter were $33.9 million versus $71.7 million for the third quarter.

This figure was made up of some modest launch payments, capitalized direct materials for the Block 1 satellite, additional facility and production equipment for our assembly integration and test facility in Midland and the delivery of commercial-grade software from Nokia.

As of the end of the fourth quarter, we have spent over 90% of the expected amounts for the five Block 1 satellites, we are still projecting to spend approximately $150 million for the five BB 1 satellites.

And on the final chart on this slide, we ended the first quarter with $210.8 million in cash.

We are continuing to pursue using the balance of our senior credit facility, which would add an amount of capital in the low 40s efforts around raising strategic capital may take precedence over the senior credit facility and at a minimum, the deferment has reduced a bit of a negative carry would have incurred if we had access to the facility earlier.

As we stated in our 10-K, we believe this cash as well as our ability to raise capital through our existing facilities is sufficient to support our expenditures for at least the next 12 months.

As we have also discussed in our 10-K, our cost positions and capital plans are quite modular, and this characteristic provides us the flexibility to increase or decrease our rate of expenditures depending upon changes in our build-out plans and availability of capital.

This flexibility provides us comfort that we can manage our liquidity profile dynamically depending on our rate of raising capital.

Earlier this year, we provided guidance on our expected operating expense levels.

We have been supporting the development of efforts of our two critical satellite designs, Block 1 and Block 2, our ASIC chip design and the construction of five BB 1 satellite.

The completion of the BB 1 work and a significant portion of the BB 2 and ASIC design work is expected to result in a material reduction in our adjusted operating expenses and future capital expenditures.

This reduction in cash expenditures will be done without a material reduction in our employment headcount as most of these reductions are related to the completion of third party work.

Overall, our adjusted operating expenses is expected to decline from an average of $38.7 million per quarter during 2023 to an average of $30 million per quarter for 2024 as the Block 1 design is completed and the Block 2 design approaches completion.

These figures will vary depending upon manufacturing activity in each period.

This guidance does not include the expected cost of approximately [$15 million] related to the tape-out and initial production of our ASIC chips.

These ASIC related costs will be recognized as an R&D expense in subsequent quarters in 2024 as the milestones are completed.

We also plan to reduce our outlook for capital expenditures as we reach the final investment for BB 1.

For the next three quarters, we expect to spend in the aggregate approximately $50 million to $60 million in capital expenditures.

Any increase beyond these levels will be in conjunction with the timing of the deployment of our Block 2 satellites, which could be either in late 2024 or the first quarter of 2025.

Timing of the changes in our adjusted operating expenditures and capital expenditures, as I have just described, could be delayed or may not be realized due to a variety of factors.

On a final note, I'd like to provide some additional detail on one of our additional funding strategies, which is complement to our recent strategic growth, satellite and other infrastructure providers have historically utilized government and quasi-government institutions, which are known as export credit agencies to source cost-effective, long-term debt funding of large projects.

The key underpinning of these funding structures has been proven technology and the sale of significant capacity through long-term agreements to large creditworthy entities.

We have begun the process of approaching these funding institutions, which includes the hiring of an adviser and developing marketing materials.

After preliminary discussions with a few of these agencies, we have received letters which indicate their willingness to evaluate this type of financing with us.

We are in the very early stages of this process.

And as we progress, I will provide updates on these potential finances.

There can be no assurance that we will be successful in the pursuit of this type of financing and funding.

And with that, this completes the presentation component of our earnings call, and I pass it back to Scott.

Thank you, Sean.

Before we go to the queue of analyst questions, we'd like to address a few of the questions submitted ahead of the call by our investors.

Operator, could you please start us off with the first question?

Trevor, from Colorado, asks where's the company on scaling up production to be able to meet the four satellites per month figure?

Will that production begin immediately?

Or will there be a serious delay while the facilities are being built?

Thank you, Trevor, for the question.

So first of all, let me report the facilities are fully built.

We had all the testing facilities for our built in-house.

We do not require in any step of the build of our satellites to be taken out of our facilities.

We have 185,000 square feet facility of manufacturing capability.

We are with the addition of these two suppliers that cost us problems in Block 1, we are getting to a 95% vertical integration all the way from the ASIC to all the structures on everything that he's required to build and launch this spacecraft.

So we don't anticipate any delays related to facility building or manufacturing building.

Also, the other aspect is the same building block that we use for Block 1 that it took this time to go to stabilize and to produce ad-based will be the same five parts that we will use for Block 2 further satellites going forward.

So of course, our focus right now is putting the Block 1s in orbit.

Again, we estimated that we would be at the launch path in around July or August, and we're already working on producing on the next launch that is on a window between A. in December and March.

Christian from Estonia.

Could you please give comments on the $100 million stock offering earlier this year, reasoning why it was raised and structured the way it was launched?

Thank you for that.

Taking the advice of our banks, we believe the offering structure we chose with the best route to raise additional capital to complement our strategic capital raise.

At the end of the day, the transaction achieved our goal of providing a significant level of funding so that we can continue to pursue our business plan.

Moving forward, we will continue to look to raise capital with strategic players in the wireless ecosystem like we did in January.

And we are working to raise long-term low-cost debt capital with export credit agencies, as I described during my presentation.

I'd also point out that most of the senior management team is aligned with the shareholders as most of their compensation is made up of restricted shares and options.

Complemented to Sean.

Answer on why we needed to do that, that public equity deal.

We needed to prioritize timing.

We needed to complement the investment from AT&T, Google and Vodafone to keep on target to our production plan and our build and our launches.

And at the same time, we have continue and we're very excited about the strategic -- the original strategic support that we will continue to have and also the non-dilutive funding that that John and the team is working in order to complement strategic financing with non-dilutive financing, which is why we have commenced to receive a letter of interest on that regard.

In addition, with prepayments from MNOs and government payments.

Dennis from Chile.

Due to their larger size, do BlueBirds satellites in Block 2 need a SpaceX Star ship rockets to be launced?

Thank you, Danny, for the question.

No, the answer is not.

As a matter of fact, we're launching five BlueBird 1s in the next launch.

And we can launch also on a Falcon 9 and other providers, including the one that we'll be using for our next launch pass the launch for Block 1.

And so we have built our satellite to be completely agnostic to one large provider is used.

We obviously count on Falcon 9, I-6, ISRO, the upcoming new launchers, future new blend and other launch providers that have medium to large size vehicles.

So the answer to your question is no, we do not require, we're not counting with the Star Ship for our Block 2 launches.

Lien from New Zealand asks how does about his appointment as a commissioner of the ITU affected AST mission?

I mean, listen, our mission is to enable broadband globally regarding where people leave work and regarding the phone that they had in their pocket.

The broadband commission had a single focus is making sure that the 2.6 billion people that remain unconnected get connected.

I do not know any other program that has a global scope, that have truly the ability to make a significant in the in the amount of people that get connected to broadband through their phones, that our program.

So this is alignment with the broadband commissioning.

In the broadband commissioning we have great participants like absolutely the owner of Telmex in Mexico.

We have the Chairman of the FCC.

We have the Chairman of Verizon.

We have the Chairman of many of the large wireless ecosystem, including a very vibrant and full participation of governments, regulators and people that core interest is making sure that the fact that connectivity is a human right get Institute on a global basis.

So we see this something that support our mission.

It is a program where we are proud to be part of it.

In the broadband commissioner, we have many a new initiative and tasks like low cost phones for democratizing access to knowledge and information, a universal network available to everybody on a global basis.

So we think that this is supportive.

It's part of our work and making sure that everybody exactly where we will work have access to broadband in the phone.

And with that, I'd like to thank our shareholders for submitting these questions.

Operator, let's open the call to analyst questions now.

(Operator Instructions) Chris Quilty, Quilty Analytics.

Thanks, just a first question on the Micron's and bringing those in-house.

When you look at the supply chain for the Micron manufacturing, are there any elements of that that were you view is particularly difficult or where you might have pricing issues relative to a vendor that might have had higher volumes associated with certain components in order to manufacture them?

Hi, Chris, and thank you for the question.

On the micron part, which is, as you know is the building block of the of the satellite.

It's all components are either design or manufacture with us.

We basically manufacture from the solar panel all the way to the electronics, batteries, structures, everything that goes into them.

Currently for this launch, the microns is based on FPGA so that's where we're buying those from existing source.

For the first Block 1, there will also be FPGAs.

So then we move forward with the following launches or with the ASIC with the 85,000 launch.

So just a clarification, the two suppliers that give us initially issue.

We are not naming them.

They were not in the Micron.

They were part of the control subsystem.

Perfect.

Second question, with the redomiciling for regulatory purposes to the US, how does that impact your standing in any regulatory filings or does it?

We don't see the impact, none of that.

I think we are finding our opportunity with the US government, potential fundings from United States.

And now the SEC had a framework that we think will lead the rest of the world and how to regulate our product globally.

We thought that it was the right time and the right process to actually move our satellites to our US flag.

So we're very proud of that.

And we see that to be able to accelerate.

We're working very closely now with the FCC.

And we are obviously very happy with the new regulatory framework that now we start seeing replicated in large countries through the process of basically reusing the spectrum that is used on terrestrial deployments from space, which is actually the core of our technology, reusing the existing phone that is already in the pockets of everybody, using it for connecting regardless where the people is regarded where the phone is on a global basis.

Very good.

Thank you.

I'll circle back in the queue.

Mike Crawford, B. Riley Securities.

Thank you.

I heard that you're putting five BlueBirds on a Falcon 9 at the end of the summer.

How many Blocks 2s can you fit on to the launch that you're looking for in December and the March timeframe?

And sounds like that's from a different launch provider, not SpaceX.

Yeah, the next provider is not a SpaceX.

It's a large rocket into low vehicle.

We're not disclosing yet who the provider, but it's contra that it's already negotiated.

And the launch window is already agreed between December and March '25, we're putting one satellite on the launch, that's also an SPGA base, but it's the large 2,400 square feet Block 2 type of satellite.

Okay, thank you.

And then you previously disclosed you intent to enable initial service in Japan in 2026, how many Block 2's need to be in service for you to be able to implement service in Japan.

Around 45 satellites to had initial service launch between 45 and 60.

We are working very hard.

Now just as a clarification the same Block 1 micron, the same double micron that we're producing now are the one that we continue to produce for Block 2.

It took more than expected to stabilize that line is a new micro with a new full capability with everything vertically integrated by ourselves.

But the good news that it's passed us and we plan to continue to do that.

To get to a cadence of 72 satellites per year later as we stabilize or have enough parts to be able to do that.

Obviously, the first ones are the more difficult to get up into space.

They are also the one would you implement for the first time the changes and the upgrades that you do on them.

Okay.

Thank you.

And then a final question just relates to your new strategic partner, Google.

So I know your service works with just any phone that people already have, but are there certain things that Google could do to say Android operating system to make those phones connect even better with your network?

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right.

Our network, our technology is completely open for any phone, 2G, 4G, 5G, in the future 6G.

So we are completely independent of the phone manufacturer or actually the G on the phone.

However, we believe and we are super excited about the relationship with Google.

Google is the largest ecosystem provider for cellular phones with over 3.5 billion devices on a global basis.

And we had agreed to collaborate in product development and implementation of features on the Google ecosystem that adds on the sole benefit of the MNO, our customers and the end users, the usage-based model.

So we're very excited about this relationship, it's super strategic for us is to create value on the Android ecosystem for our customers and end users.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Benjamin Soff, Deutsche Bank.

Hey, guys, thanks for taking the question.

My first one is just on the government contract.

Is there any additional color you can provide on the type of service you're providing?

And just generally, how do you think about the market opportunity to work with government agencies in the US and abroad?

And then I have a follow-up.

Yeah, I mean, we do see the government opportunity to be very, very large.

I mean, obviously, a technology that can deliver a race, face rate of the size or the power that they generate.

And if you compare with the benchmark costing of that today for non-communications applications, we're talking about a similar order of magnitude higher cost that we can do.

Despite the fact that we're doing it, we had 185,000 square feet facility, we're ramping up our production as we speak.

So the government is super interested in this.

We do see these opportunities not only to be in the communication side, which is an obvious application being able to connect any 3GPP, any cellular device that government use on a global basis or defense users use on a global basis.

But also there are multitude of applications of the same technology without any major changes to our technology to be used in the non-communications space, which we think is a very large market, very large opportunity.

And we see it also in combination of the prepayments that we expect to continue to get from MNOs payments from governments and the non-dilutive funding that we see that the most efficient way to take our network forward and continue to build satellites based on these agreements that we're starting to see.

So we're very excited about the government opportunity and we think that we're in the very, very early innings of that of what we can do for our government with our technology.

Great.

And then my second question is on the Block 2 satellite.

Obviously, there's been a lot of moving pieces over the last couple of years.

And I'm just wondering what your latest thoughts are on the timing and costs for these last two satellites?

And has there been any changes recently?

Yeah.

No, we are maintaining our guidance on costs for the Block 2.

As I said, the parts, the building blocks are the same.

We are building for Block 1.

So the line, our assembly line, our processes, they can maintain.

We now control around 95% of our cost to build our satellites and also our supply chains.

And that includes for Block 2.

So we had Block 2, we use these microns, which are the same for Block 1 and Block 2.

They rely in the same solar system, same solar panel, same battery systems, structures and software to maintain them.

So we had that done.

So we are very excited where we are on that.

And we have taken an approach of incrementally that features to the satellite.

So with Block 2 where we review that, but they obviously are they are larger than 2,400 square feet each, what make it possible to get to 120 megabytes of data rate on a 10,000 megahertz of processing bandwidth, which is really the only way to provide broadband directly to regular handsets.

Helpful.

Thank you.

Chris Schoell, UBS.

Great.

Thank you for the Block 1 satellites.

Can you just update us on how you're thinking about initial use cases and expected revenue generation as you await more continuous coverage?

And then once in orbit, can you also remind us the timeline for testing and calibrating those satellites?

And what are the key milestones that you need to reach to commence commercial service?

Thank you.

I mean, the initial -- the non-commercial usage is normal installation base is basically a news use it by satellite.

So the generation for that is incremental as we add satellites.

For the MNOs what we would what we will be doing is immediately integrating that to the core system.

We keep launching more satellites.

So the data we disclosed there is an initial payment by AT&T with the launch of Block 1.

The supply agreement with Vodafone to start using them in some of the core markets and a zone revenue that we start generating initially also for non-continuous service.

We build the satellites, but it is a combination of revenue for non-commercial is scale on a satellite by satellite basis.

On for commercial for non continuous service type of applications.

We start to see early revenue on that, but our plan is to rapidly ramp with the support of the government contracts, non-diluted revenue and prepayment revenues to continually build into the constellations.

So we're doing that by region and we're doing that prioritizing the MNOs or investors with us and continue to support on the build of the of the constellation.

That's helpful.

Thank you.

And I appreciate your dialogue with potential M&O customers is likely ongoing, but any update you can give on where your discussions stand?

And are you seeing interest beyond the already announced set of partners that you have?

Yeah.

The answer is yes, absolutely.

We have 48 -- approximately 48 operators that we had agreements or MOUs with them, while using the same formula that we use initially with AT&T and Vodafone will continue to do in a way of prepayments or advanced payments, and sometimes combined with a strategic investment or not.

So we had a very, very vibrant ecosystem.

We have now already AT&T, Vodafone, Google, Rakuten, Bell Canada and American Tower.

But we had only 48 relationships that we are in constant constant dialogue.

Everybody is super interested in seeing our constellation app as soon as possible.

Everybody wants their regions and the customer to reprioritize and we're taking advantage of that relationship as it is very symbiotic between us and the operators.

Great.

Thank you for all the color.

Thank you.

At this time, I'm showing no further questions.

I would like to turn the call back over to management for closing remarks.

Thank you, operator.

We're building a space-based cellular broadband network designed for the use of the phone in your pocket today.

I want to thank everybody for joining both shareholders and analysts for their questions, and I hope everybody had a great week.

Thank you.

And this concludes today's conference.

You may disconnect your lines at this time.

Thank you and have a good day.