SpaceX wants Starlink Mobile to be more than a way to send a text from somewhere with no signal. The company now says it intends to become a major mobile carrier in the United States, which would put it in direct competition with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Its latest spectrum deal is meant to back that up.
SpaceX has agreed to buy up to 14MHz of paired low-band spectrum in the 800MHz range from investment firm Grain Management. Grain had acquired the licenses from T-Mobile. The deal covers the 817 to 824MHz and 862 to 869MHz bands. The terms weren’t disclosed, and the transfer still needs approval from the FCC. What stands out is that these licenses are designed for ground-based cell towers, not satellites. Low-band spectrum carries signals farther and through walls more easily, which is exactly where satellite-to-phone service has struggled. SpaceX calls the purchase a fix for one of its key remaining technical gaps. It also points out that most existing phones already support the band.
This deal adds to a much larger one. Last year SpaceX bought EchoStar spectrum for roughly $20 billion. This week the FCC approved up to 15,000 second-generation Starlink Mobile satellites and cleared the way for SpaceX to sell wireless service directly to consumers. SpaceX says its plan combines new satellites with a ground-based network. Company president Gwynne Shotwell said in August that service should start at the end of next year, and that SpaceX expects to win a significant number of customers from the big three.
The timeline may be the hardest part. SpaceX can’t use the EchoStar spectrum until that deal closes, which is scheduled for November 2027. Phones will also need chipsets that support those bands. No retail launch date has been set. Satellite analyst Tim Farrar has raised further concerns. He notes the new low-band allocation is small, reliable indoor coverage in cities would require an expensive tower network, and satellites built for higher frequencies would need to be modified to use these bands. The deal also takes these frequencies away from rival AST SpaceMobile, which had been testing them.
That leaves an awkward situation with T-Mobile. Starlink currently provides T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service, which uses around 650 satellites to deliver texting and limited app support at roughly 4Mbps. T-Mobile has recently played that service down and floated working with other providers. Its main satellite partner now plans to compete with it for customers.
All of this is limited to the US for now, and SpaceX hasn’t mentioned plans for the Gulf, where carriers like e& and du are concentrating on upgrading their ground networks. If a satellite company can become a full mobile carrier in the world’s most competitive wireless market, carriers in other regions will have reason to watch closely.
