SpaceX has won United States regulatory clearance for 15,000 Starlink satellites that connect directly to mobile phones, and has agreed to buy a block of low-frequency cellular spectrum that it says will let its Starlink Mobile service operate as a major mobile carrier in the US. Business Insider and CBS News reported both steps in the same week in October 2026, and The Verge has been tracking SpaceX’s follow-up moves in a running roundup updated on 5 November.
Key facts
- The Federal Communications Commission, the US telecoms regulator, granted SpaceX’s request to deploy and operate 15,000 Starlink satellites for direct-to-device connectivity, Business Insider reported.
- The FCC also waived a rule requiring a leasing arrangement with one or more terrestrial wireless carriers, allowing SpaceX to use its own spectrum for the service, according to the same report.
- Those satellites will transmit in the 2 gigahertz band and connect directly to mobile phones, CBS News reported.
- SpaceX is buying low-band spectrum licences from Grain Management, an investment firm, according to an FCC filing cited by CBS News.
- The licences include up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band, The Verge reported; Yahoo Finance described the rights as nationwide 800 MHz.
- The purchase still needs FCC approval, CBS News said.
- Shares in T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon fell after the announcement.
Why it matters
Starlink’s satellite phone service has so far been framed around remote areas and emergencies. Low-band airwaves change that: low-frequency radio spectrum penetrates the walls, roofs and other structures that weaken mobile phone signals, CBS News reported, so a satellite-fed service could work indoors rather than only under open skies. Business Insider reported that SpaceX called the band the key remaining technical gap in its carrier plan, and that the purchase moves Starlink toward becoming a serious rival to established mobile carriers.
What SpaceX bought, and when
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, wrote on social media: “This is the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America,” CBS News reported. Business Insider said Musk separately called the announcement a very big deal in a post on X.
The sources differ on timing. Business Insider and CBS News placed the spectrum announcement on a Thursday in the first half of October, while The Verge’s roundup, updated 5 November, described SpaceX as having agreed to the purchase in the previous week.
SpaceX had already acquired 2GHz spectrum from EchoStar, the US satellite and wireless group, to strengthen its direct-to-device service, The Verge said. Once the FCC signs off, SpaceX says it will deploy an architecture combining its satellite-to-mobile constellation with a terrestrial mobile network competing directly with T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, according to the same roundup.
The ground network SpaceX still has to build
Business Insider noted that a reliable urban cellular network also needs ground infrastructure such as cell sites and fibre connections. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told the company’s first earnings call that the EchoStar spectrum has terrestrial components and that SpaceX intends to build that side out, pairing satellite capacity with the hardware and systems needed for a full mobile service, The Verge reported. Shotwell and Musk said the aim is to take a sizeable number of customers from the three incumbent carriers.
Three strands of that build-out are already public:
- Radios. SpaceX has picked Qualcomm’s Dragonwing equipment for the radio build, a multi-year deal covering tens of thousands of US 5G cell sites with first deployments set for 2027, according to The Verge.
- Towers. Bloomberg, cited by The Verge, reported SpaceX plans to access at least 80,000 cell sites and is in talks with tower owner Crown Castle Inc. Crown Castle chief executive Chris Hillabrant declined on an earnings call to discuss specific customers, saying the company is talking to all parties.
- Distribution. The Washington Post, cited by The Verge, reported SpaceX has held talks over Boost Mobile, the budget carrier owned by EchoStar, either to buy it or to use its network. Boost Mobile runs on T-Mobile and AT&T, so SpaceX may need their permission to launch through it, the report said.
How investors, carriers and analysts reacted
Business Insider reported that T-Mobile stock fell more than 11% in after-hours trading, with Verizon and AT&T each down about 6.6%. CBS News reported sharper AT&T losses in Friday morning trading, with the stock off $1.83 or 7.4% to $22.76, and T-Mobile down $18.58 or 11% to $152.72.
Verizon chief executive Dan Schulman said at a Goldman Sachs conference the previous month that the company had seen no discernible impact on its broadband growth from any low Earth orbit satellite provider, including Starlink, and that he does not regard satellite as a viable competitor in the medium or longer term, Business Insider reported. The plan has also drawn pushback from Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile.
UBS analyst John Hodulik said the near-term impact on wireless industry fundamentals is limited, CBS News reported. Writing on Yahoo Finance, Simply Wall St said turning the spectrum and 15,000 extra satellites into a nationwide network means heavy capital spending on ground infrastructure, complex roaming deals and coordination with Starship launch plans, while analysts point to less than one year of cash runway and sizeable quarterly losses.
What this means outside the US
Everything above rests on US licences, US airwaves and US cell sites. The FCC authorisation covers the 2GHz band in the United States, and serving phones in another country would need that country’s own spectrum rights — a step none of the four sources report SpaceX taking. None of them mention a Starlink Mobile launch, licence application or Starlink price in Zimbabwe or elsewhere in Africa, and none give a price for the mobile service in any market.
What already runs internationally is the dish-based satellite internet business: Simply Wall St noted on Yahoo Finance that SpaceX operates satellite broadband across the US and multiple other markets. That service is unchanged by the carrier plan, and the nearest checkpoint for the plan itself is the FCC’s decision on the Grain Management licences, which CBS News said is still required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Would existing phones work on Starlink Mobile’s new spectrum?
UBS analyst John Hodulik wrote in a note to investors, quoted by CBS News, that the airwaves SpaceX is buying are compatible with existing handsets and that he does not foresee obstacles to regulatory approval. He added that scaling the wireless business will still take time.
Has Starlink’s direct-to-cell service been tested with a mobile operator?
Simply Wall St, writing on Yahoo Finance, said Direct to Cell trials with Beeline Kazakhstan already demonstrate the model of using Starlink satellites as an extension of existing phone coverage rather than a separate niche service. The same piece noted SpaceX reported more than US$6 billion in new US government contracts in Q2.
How much could building the terrestrial network cost SpaceX?
Tim Höttges, chief executive of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom, said he takes SpaceX’s plans very seriously but that pulling them off could cost Elon Musk more than $200 billion, according to The Verge.
How many cell towers operate in the US?
Reuters, cited by The Verge, put the number of operational US cell towers at 158,500, so SpaceX is reported to be seeking access to roughly half of the country’s operational towers.
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