Both AT&T and Verizon were openly mocked by T-Mobile upon the official rollout of the T-Satellite service in July and now, AT&T is making a counter move that will probably be very important for its own satellite service.After more than 20 years in a variety of roles at AT&T, JR Wilson is making a return to the satellite sector. He has joined AST SpaceMobile as chief of Networks and Spectrum, a shift that brings him back to an industry he worked in early in his career. Early in his professional life, he worked at Teledesic, a 1990s venture funded by Craig McCaw and Microsoft that aimed to deliver broadband from space. Although the project ultimately did not succeed, Wilson has said that the team was working on ideas that were simply ahead of their time.At AT&T, Wilson held a number of senior posts, most recently serving as vice president of Towers, Roaming and In-Building commercial strategy, focusing primarily on terrestrial wireless.His move to AST SpaceMobile is seen as a significant gain for the satellite company. Wilson has long spoken publicly about the potential of the technology AST is pursuing. The company is working on direct-to-device satellite services that can connect unmodified smartphones, and in 2023, AT&T became an early partner by leasing 850 MHz of terrestrial cellular spectrum to support the effort. Of course, Verizon later entered the picture with its own $100 million investment and matching spectrum lease.