SpaceX Reportedly Wants 80,000 US Cell Sites for a Fourth Wireless Network, and Carrier Stocks Tumble
A Bloomberg report that SpaceX is negotiating tower access for a nationwide phone network hit AT&T and T-Mobile hard on Friday, while Crown Castle jumped. Nothing is confirmed on the record.
Outspoken Digest Technology Desk
Saturday, October 24, 2026/2 min read
Elon Musk's plan to turn SpaceX into a phone company got a very concrete number on Friday: 80,000. Bloomberg News reported that SpaceX is in talks with Crown Castle, one of the largest US tower owners, for access to at least that many cell sites, according to a Dow Jones summary on MarketScreener. The sources were anonymous, and the page carried no comment from SpaceX, Crown Castle or the carriers.
Investors treated it as news anyway. AT&T and T-Mobile shares each fell by more than 6 percent in Reuters' report on the session, Verizon lost 1.6 percent and Crown Castle rose 10 percent. Premarket moves in the Dow Jones piece were smaller, which tells you how fast the story spread.
What did Bloomberg report about SpaceX and the cell sites?
That a deal would help SpaceX become a fourth nationwide wireless carrier, built from scratch rather than leased from the big three. Crown Castle was the named tower company. A Goldman Sachs estimate of about $50,000 per tower a year, cited by Yahoo Finance, would put the annual rent on 80,000 sites at roughly $4 billion. That is an outside estimate, not a reported price.
It lands weeks after SpaceX agreed to buy a nationwide block of 800 MHz spectrum, which we covered in our report on the Grain Management purchase. The Wall Street Journal valued that deal at about $8 billion, and it still needs FCC approval.
When could a SpaceX phone network launch?
Not soon. Yahoo Finance said SpaceX's Starlink Mobile is targeting early 2028 for US service, and its chief financial officer has pointed to the first half of 2028, later than the end-2027 aim given in August. The FCC cleared up to 15,000 direct-to-phone satellites on 6 October and approved SpaceX's purchase of three Tristar licences on 21 October.
Tower access would give the company the ground layer that satellites alone cannot, since a satellite signal does not replace a dense street-level network in cities.
What do the existing carriers say?
They are not conceding. AT&T chief executive John Stankey has said a competitive network takes many years to build, and Verizon's Dan Schulman does not see satellite as a viable competitor in the medium term, per Yahoo Finance. The carriers' trade group CTIA also warned the FCC after an Oct. 20 meeting of "real consequences for consumers" if satellite spectrum rules are loosened, without naming SpaceX.
The FCC votes on 29 October on a proposal to update satellite-to-phone rules, which would only open public comment. Verizon reports third-quarter results on Monday and T-Mobile follows on Wednesday, so the carriers will be asked about it quickly.
What should investors and customers watch?
The selloff rests on an unconfirmed report of private talks, not an announced contract. A signed agreement, an FCC filing or a Crown Castle statement would change that. Until then, the 80,000 figure is the plan on paper, and the real test is whether a company with no wireless customers can build a competing network that people actually use.
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