Direct-to-cellular (D2C) satellite operator AST SpaceMobile last week formally told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that, in accordance with its licence, it had commenced D2C operations in a nation that is not the US. AST’s partner in Japan is cellular operator Rakuten, helped by a significant $926 million investment by Japan’s government. The AST service positions Rakuten to compete directly against other Japanese telecom operators using SpaceX’s Starlink, such as KDDI, SoftBank, and NTT Docomo. According to reports, Rakuten owns approximately 15.51 million shares of AST which represents roughly 5.3 per cent of the company. AST is scheduled to launch three of its BlueBird satellites on August 5th, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (3.42 am Florida-time).