(Bloomberg) -- AST SpaceMobile Inc., which aims to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the nascent market for space-based cellular service to mobile phones, has signed contracts with SpaceX and Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin to launch dozens of its satellites into orbit.
The Midland, Texas-based company will use Blue Origin’s forthcoming New Glenn and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to loft as many as 60 of its Block 2 satellites to low-Earth orbit over the next two years, the company said on Thursday.
The company also announced an upcoming launch with the Indian Space Research Organization.
AST SpaceMobile launched its first five satellites in October on a SpaceX rocket. It’s one of a handful of companies trying to use satellites to provide connectivity to everyday consumer smartphones, a market often referred to as “direct-to-cell.”
It has signed partnerships with Verizon and AT&T as it competes with SpaceX, which teamed up with T-Mobile US Inc. SpaceX is pursuing the market with its massive Starlink system, which boasts thousands of satellites in orbit.
--With assistance from Loren Grush.
(Updates with plans to launch on rockets from SpaceX and India from the second paragraph.)
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