en.Wedoany.com Reported - The deployment plan for AST SpaceMobile's direct-to-smartphone constellation is expected to be delayed due to an explosion at Blue Origin's launch pad, investment bank William Blair said in an equity research report, with initial commercial service now anticipated to begin in the first half of 2027, a delay of three to six months.

William Blair stated that AST SpaceMobile Chief Strategy Officer Scott Wisniewski provided this estimate on June 2 at the bank's annual Growth Stock Conference in Chicago.

Before the loss suffered during the static fire test of the New Glenn rocket on May 28, AST SpaceMobile had planned to initiate early service by the end of 2026. Under the original plan, at least 45 satellites would be operating in low Earth orbit by then to help core U.S. customers like AT&T and Verizon fill gaps in terrestrial coverage. Even after losing the seventh BlueBird satellite during the New Glenn launch on April 19, the Texas-based company had maintained this target.

Although AST SpaceMobile's plans are heavily reliant on the New Glenn rocket, Wisniewski reiterated that "the company has a handful of additional launches from providers other than Blue Origin for the remainder of this year," wrote William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma. In addition to its contract with SpaceX, Wisniewski said last month that the company has "a handful of launches comparable to SpaceX," with United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan rocket listed as a viable option.

Beyond the New Glenn rocket, previous BlueBird satellites have also been launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and India's LVM3 launch vehicle. Earlier this year, AST SpaceMobile disclosed that it had signed an agreement with a new heavy-lift launch vehicle to add it to its backup launch manifest, but provided no details.

"Our strategy has always been to have multiple launch providers, and I would include ULA in that," Wisniewski said during AST SpaceMobile's latest earnings call on May 11. "We have been developing other heavy-lift launch providers for some time and will provide more updates when appropriate. But at this stage, we plan to maximize the use of Blue Origin, SpaceX, and similar rockets."

AST SpaceMobile directed SpaceNews to a statement issued shortly after last week's launch pad incident, which noted that none of the missions planned for the coming months involve Blue Origin launches. "Our satellites are designed to be launch vehicle agnostic, and we have agreements with multiple launch providers, providing flexibility in our launch plans," the operator said. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said on June 1 that the damage to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was less severe than feared, and the New Glenn rocket could resume flights by the end of this year. "Nevertheless, we believe that this particular launch pad is unlikely to return to service in the near term," DiPalma wrote in the research report, "and expect that Blue Origin may need to rely on third-party launch infrastructure to complete upcoming missions."

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