SpaceX is looking to secure access to 80,000 cell sites across the United States to support a terrestrial carrier network, Bloomberg reported, with the company in talks with at least one major cellular infrastructure company. Crown Castle, which owns and operates approximately 40,000 towers in the US, is one of them: on its earnings call on Wednesday, October 21, chief executive Chris Hillabrant confirmed the company has been in talks, declining customer specific detail, and chief financial officer Sunit Patel called SpaceX’s spectrum position a huge milestone.
The spectrum piece is already bought. SpaceX recently announced it will acquire Grain Management’s nationwide 800MHz portfolio for 8 billion dollars, and it has approval to deploy 15,000 high capacity direct to device satellites. Musk called the 800MHz band the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle for complete phone coverage in America, and on SpaceX’s own earnings call this week he said the company will build out its terrestrial network alongside direct to cell satellite service, aiming for Starlink Mobile to become a major US carrier.
The obstacle is the one T-Mobile’s John Saw named: spectrum alone does not make a carrier. A fourth national network needs sites, backhaul and retail distribution at a scale the tower talks are presumably meant to shortcut.