SpaceX is in talks with cellular infrastructure companies to secure access to at least 80,000 sites across the United States, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, as the rocket company works toward becoming a fourth nationwide wireless carrier. The report cited people familiar with the matter.
The scale of the talks is striking. Those 80,000 sites would equal half of the 158,500 purpose-built cell towers operating in the US last year, according to the Wireless Infrastructure Association. A deal of that size would give a SpaceX wireless network an instant national footprint, something no new carrier has managed in decades.
SpaceX wireless network talks with tower owners
SpaceX is buying nationwide low-band spectrum, and it is in talks with Crown Castle, one of the largest US tower operators, according to the report. Crown Castle operates about 40,000 US towers, so SpaceX would need agreements with more than one company to reach 80,000 sites. American Tower has about 42,000 US sites, while privately held Vertical Bridge owns around 18,000.
Crown Castle chief executive Christian Hillabrant said on Wednesday that the company was talking to “all parties” when asked about potential leases with SpaceX and Amazon. He declined to discuss specific customers. Crown Castle, American Tower, Vertical Bridge and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Leasing existing towers would save SpaceX years of construction and permitting. Every new tower in the US needs local approval, environmental review and power connections. For a company trying to reach national coverage quickly, renting space on towers that are already standing is the fastest route into the mobile business. Tower owners make their money by leasing space on the same structure to several carriers at once, so a SpaceX wireless network would fit their existing business model.
What a SpaceX wireless network would cost
TD Cowen estimated that building a nationwide terrestrial network from scratch would cost more than $80 billion, requiring many years and billions in additional spending. That figure explains the tower talks. Even for a company that builds its own rockets, $80 billion plus years of construction is a bill worth avoiding.
Low-band spectrum is the airwave best suited for wide coverage. It travels long distances and passes through walls, which is why carriers use it as the base layer of their networks. SpaceX is acquiring those frequencies nationwide, which points to a real mobile service rather than a niche product for rural areas.
SpaceX already sells satellite internet through Starlink, which serves homes and businesses in remote places where cell towers are sparse. A terrestrial SpaceX wireless network would take the company into cities and suburbs, where the revenue in US mobile service sits. The fourth carrier slot has been empty since T-Mobile absorbed Sprint in 2020, and regulators have watched the market for signs of a new entrant.
The talks were reported on Oct. 22, 2026, one day after the company reported a profitable quarter and said it might merge with Tesla. That timing put SpaceX in the headlines two days running, first for its finances and then for its carrier ambitions.
The report did not name the other infrastructure companies SpaceX is talking to, and it did not say when the company wants the sites ready. Towers are only part of the job. To run a SpaceX wireless network, the company would also need billing systems, stores or other sales channels, and roaming deals for places its own sites do not reach.
Carrier stocks fall on the report
Shares of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile fell between 4.2% and 5% in extended trading after the report. The drop shows investors are taking the threat of a well-funded SpaceX wireless network seriously. A new national SpaceX wireless network with deep pockets could force down prices or pull away customers, and the three incumbents have enjoyed a stable three-player market for years.
For investors, the math changed on Thursday. A SpaceX wireless network would compete directly with the three carriers for the same subscribers, and SpaceX has a history of undercutting incumbents on price. None of the three carriers commented on the report, and SpaceX has not said when, or if, it would launch commercial mobile service.