AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) stock climbed about 4% on Wednesday, trading near $62 a share, as investors weighed fresh satellite shipment news alongside a newly adopted executive severance policy.

Three more BlueBird satellites left the company's Midland, Texas manufacturing facility this week, with BlueBirds 14, 15, and 16 now in transit to Cape Canaveral, Florida. The company announced the shipment on social media, posting video of the spacecraft containers on the road. “Another convoy is on the move,” AST SpaceMobile wrote. “Next stop: orbit.”

No launch date has been announced yet for the latest trio, making a confirmed launch date the next milestone to watch. They follow BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13, which launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on August 5, and BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10, which lifted off in June.

Production Keeps Rolling

Manufacturing in Midland has now advanced through BlueBird 50, with more than 20 spacecraft structures currently being integrated on the assembly line.

The pace of production is central to the company's plans. AST's ability to build and launch satellites at scale underpins its transition from patchy coverage toward a fully functioning commercial network.

The company's next-generation satellites carry phased-array antennas spanning nearly 2,400 square feet. AST says these are the largest commercial communications arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit. Each satellite can reportedly support more than 150 Mbps of peak capacity per coverage cell — bandwidth designed to deliver cellular broadband straight to ordinary smartphones, with no special hardware required.

AST currently holds agreements with nearly 60 mobile network operators. Those partners, including AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone, collectively serve more than 3 billion subscribers worldwide.

Severance Policy and Government Deals

On September 25, AST's Compensation Committee adopted a new Senior Management Change of Control Severance Policy, setting standardized payout terms for top executives in the event of a takeover. Such policies a common feature of executive compensation at publicly traded companies, generally used to set leadership terms ahead of potential corporate transitions.

Under a qualifying termination, the CEO would receive a lump-sum payment equal to twice their base salary plus target bonus, along with 24 months of health coverage subsidies. Other senior executives covered under the policy would receive 1.5 times their salary and bonus total, plus 18 months of health benefit subsidies.

The policy applies to terminations within 12 months after a change of control, up to 180 days before one. It covers the CEO, President, and all Executive and Senior Vice Presidents.

AST is also expanding beyond consumer telecom. The company has reported a contracted revenue backlog of approximately $1.3 billion, which includes growing work with the U.S. Space Development Agency. That government pipeline gives AST another avenue beyond carrier partnerships, and the network's direct-to-device design holds obvious appeal for secure or remote communications use cases.

Separately, AT&T executives publicly pushed back this week against SpaceX's direct-to-consumer satellite strategy. AT&T has backed AST's “partner-first” model, which integrates with existing carrier networks rather than competing with them. The exchange underscores the strategic split now taking shape in the direct-to-device field, with SpaceX pursuing a consumer-facing path while AST positions itself alongside carriers it already counts as partners, including AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone.

AST SpaceMobile's active orbital fleet currently stands at 13 satellites following the August launch — a count set to grow once BlueBirds 14, 15, and 16 reach orbit. The company has said it remains on track to begin beta direct-to-device cellular service across the United States by late 2026.

This article is based on reporting by CoinCentral.