SpaceX is said to be negotiating for 80,000 U.S. cell sites

Market reaction and reported talks

Yahoo Finance reports that SpaceX shares climbed more than 2% in premarket U.S. trading on Friday after Bloomberg News said SpaceX was in talks to secure access to at least 80,000 cell sites across the United States. Bloomberg said the discussions would amount to a tangible move toward building a fourth nationwide wireless carrier. Shares of Crown Castle International, one of the tower operators mentioned in the report, rose by more than 7% before the market opened.

Tower operators and sector discussions

According to Bloomberg, SpaceX is negotiating with major tower companies, including Crown Castle, as it seeks the physical infrastructure needed to support its orbital network. On Wednesday's earnings call, Crown Castle Chief Executive Officer Chris Hillabrant declined to address any specific customer talks. He did, however, say the company is involved in broader conversations throughout the industry and is speaking with all major satellite-based telecommunications providers that are looking at ground-level deployment.

How the proposed network would work

Yahoo Finance reports that mobile networks depend heavily on tower antennas on the ground to move signals between smartphones and core network hubs. It says traditional carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile often lease shared infrastructure to limit capital spending. SpaceX, by contrast, is described as pursuing a hybrid system that combines terrestrial cell sites with its satellite constellation.

Scale, regulation and spectrum

The article says the possible leasing agreements could total billions of dollars because of the scale of the network SpaceX would need. Elon Musk has framed the effort as a direct challenge to established carriers, according to the report. Yahoo Finance also says the Federal Communications Commission approved SpaceX to launch 15,000 specialized satellites designed to send mobile connectivity directly to standard smartphones. The article adds that SpaceX recently bought low-band spectrum, which it says would provide the airwaves needed to turn Starlink into a standalone commercial network and help link satellite signals with ground-based cellular coverage.