Starship’s $0.30/Mbps Cost Cuts Drive 20× Efficiency for AST SpaceMobile
ASTS•Rob Maurer projects Starship will cut bandwidth costs to $0.30 per Mbps from $6.55—a 95% reduction—enabling a 20× efficiency boost using V3 satellites at 4× more bandwidth per kilogram. AST SpaceMobile, which uses Falcon 9 for BlueBird direct-to-cell constellation and has a launch scheduled this month, saw shares rise 1%.
1. Starship Cost Reduction Analysis
Rob Maurer’s analysis highlights a drop in bandwidth deployment cost to $0.30 per Mbps from $6.55, marking a 95% cut compared to Falcon 9. He estimates that Starship’s 100-tonne payload capacity at under $185 per kilogram, combined with next-generation V3 satellites delivering four times the bandwidth per kilogram, could yield a 20× efficiency improvement.
2. Impact on AST SpaceMobile
AST SpaceMobile has relied on Falcon 9 to deploy its BlueBird direct-to-cell satellites and anticipates another launch later this month. The prospect of dramatically lower launch costs and enhanced satellite capability sparked a 1% share gain overnight as investors factor in longer-term deployment efficiencies.
