Crown Castle rises 6% after SpaceX selects Qualcomm for Starlink Mobile

Crown Castle and tower stocks move higher

Yahoo Finance reports that Crown Castle shares climbed 6% after SpaceX chose Qualcomm to supply base stations for Starlink Mobile's 5G network. The article says SBA Communications also rose 6%, while American Tower increased 4%.

Qualcomm deal and timing

According to Yahoo Finance, Qualcomm said the agreement covers tens of thousands of sites and is scheduled to start in 2027. The source says no SpaceX lease has been signed yet.

Analyst view on Starlink Mobile

Yahoo Finance cites Ookla lead industry analyst Mike Dano, who said the deal "reinforces the likelihood" that Starlink Mobile could become a credible fourth nationwide mobile network provider in the U.S. The article says the needed base stations will have to be placed somewhere.

Why the market reacted

The report says this was the third SpaceX-linked jump for tower stocks in about a month, following an $8 billion spectrum purchase and reported discussions involving 80,000 cell sites. Yahoo Finance says a fourth carrier could help fill the leasing gap left by DISH, which cut $61 million from Crown Castle's third-quarter site rental billings through lease terminations.

Revenue outlook and peer impact

Yahoo Finance says analysts expect Crown Castle's total revenue to decline this year and only partly recover by 2028, and those estimates do not include a possible SpaceX lease. On Crown Castle's third-quarter call, CFO Sunit Patel said he expects 2026 to be the low point for organic growth.

The article adds that SBA's domestic site leasing revenue fell 3.4% in the third quarter to $454.4 million. CEO Brendan Cavanagh said Monday that SBA is seeing new opportunities from satellite and edge compute providers that value its portfolio's reach and infrastructure. Yahoo Finance says Starlink Mobile would fit that type of tenant.

American Tower's organic tenant billings grew 1.1% in the third quarter, while CoreSite cash revenue rose 16.3%. Yahoo Finance says American Tower would likely benefit less than Crown Castle from a new U.S. carrier because it has towers worldwide.

Valuation

Yahoo Finance says Crown Castle traded at 18 times forward AFFO at Monday's close, slightly below its five-year average of 19 times. After today's rise, the stock is near that average and still well below its 29 times peak in late 2021.