© NASA / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Two CEOs. Two very different satellite businesses. Both claiming 2026 as their inflection year. What they’re saying reveals a fascinating split in how the satellite-to-cellular race is being run.
Abel Avellan: “We Are the First”
AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) CEO Abel Avellan made the stakes clear:
“We are the only company capable of delivering 4G and 5G and in the future, 6G broadband speed sufficient for voice calls, voice over LTE, live video calls, streaming, and full Internet access directly to unmodified devices.”
Avellan backs the claim with specifics. BlueBird 6 is described as “the largest ever commercial communication array deploying load at orbit” at roughly 2,400 square feet. The Block 2 satellites are roughly 3.5 times larger and 10 times the capacity of BlueBird 1 through 5.
The numbers behind the ambition are real. Q4 2025 revenue hit $54.30 million, beating estimates by 28.56% and growing 2,731% year over year. Full-year 2025 revenue came in at $70.92 million, and 2026 guidance calls for $150 million to $200 million. President Scott Wisniewski added the longer view: “We see the opportunity in 2027 approaching $1 billion in annual revenue.”
On manufacturing, Avellan was candid about scale: “Simply put, we are the first company in the history of commercial satellite manufacturing to produce satellites of our size and power at scale.” Production capacity exiting 2025 supports up to six satellites worth of micron and phased array per month.
The target: 45 to 60 satellites in orbit by end of 2026, with launches every one to two months. The stock has gained about 200% over the past year, though it has pulled back roughly 14% over the past month as the market digests the capital intensity of this build.
Paul Jacobs: “Groundwork to Growth”
Globalstar (NYSE:GSAT) CEO Paul Jacobs is playing a different game. His most revealing quote from the recent earnings call:
“One factor became increasingly clear last year: proprietary, globally harmonized spectrum matters. Our licensed MSS spectrum remains a core differentiator and a foundational asset as the market evolves.”
Jacobs is not trying to be Avellan. Globalstar posted record full-year 2025 revenue of $273 million with a 50% adjusted EBITDA margin. The 2026 guide is $280 million to $305 million. This is a profitable, cash-generating business, not a moonshot.
The most honest moment came on two-way IoT, a product Globalstar has been building toward for years: “What is going on with the two-way system is that our customers are actually building out their solutions right now, so you will not see revenues from two-way IoT in any significant amount right now.” The module is in mass production. Revenue is waiting on customers to finish their own integrations.
Jacobs is managing a transition from a mature satellite business into something broader, with XCOM RAN for private 5G, a next-generation C-3 constellation, and government contracts building quietly. The pipeline, he says, is “very large.”
Two Races, Two Clocks
Avellan is running a sprint with a $25 billion market cap and a burn rate to match, betting that direct-to-device cellular broadband at scale is a winner-take-most market. Jacobs is running a marathon with real margins, real cash flow, and spectrum assets that grow more valuable as the industry expands. Neither CEO is bluffing. They are playing for very different prizes, and 2026 will tell us which timeline the market rewards.