SpaceX Prepares Terrestrial Mobile Network for $600 Billion US Wireless Market
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Aug 5
SpaceX Prepares Terrestrial Mobile Network for $600 Billion US Wireless Market
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Aug 5
Summary
SpaceX said on its first earnings call that it will build a ground-based mobile network to sell a full wireless service and win customers from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
65 megahertz of EchoStar spectrum gives SpaceX terrestrial rights, while next-generation Starlink Mobile satellites due next year are expected to make the service “100 times better,” Gwynne Shotwell said.
Elon Musk said the network could rely on large numbers of small base stations attached to Starlink dish installations on homes and businesses, avoiding traditional large cell towers.
Starlink Mobile now mainly fills carrier dead zones with limited messaging and data; the terrestrial buildout would push SpaceX from partner to direct rival in a US market Shotwell pegged at about $600 billion a year.