{"id":157117,"date":"2025-09-14T22:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T22:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/157117\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T22:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T22:48:11","slug":"everyone-thinks-elon-musk-is-going-to-build-a-spacex-mobile-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/157117\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone Thinks Elon Musk is Going to Build a SpaceX Mobile Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX\u2019s has been partnering with mobile carriers like T-Mobile to offer its satellite internet service Starlink to extend the reach of cell networks. But, according to a report from the Washington Post<\/a>, the company has ambitions to be more than just a partner. Following a major purchase of wireless spectrum earlier this week, it appears everyone is expecting Elon Musk\u2019s company to get into the wireless network business for itself.<\/p>\n

On Monday, it was reported that SpaceX was finalizing a deal with satellite communications company EchoStar, the parent company of Dish Network, to buy up $17 billion worth of wireless spectrum. All signs suggest that SpaceX is after that spectrum to help build out Starlink\u2019s 5G network, with the rumored goal to move satellite connectivity for phones beyond just emergency services and access in remote locations to a full-blown mobile network.<\/p>\n

Musk hasn\u2019t exactly backed away from the rumors. In an appearance on the All-In Podcast<\/a>, he claimed the newly acquired spectrum would allow the company to deliver \u201chigh-bandwidth connectivity\u201d directly from satellites to connected devices, albeit with a two-year lead time to get everything set up. \u201cThe net effect is you should be able to watch videos anywhere on your phone,\u201d he said. That\u2019s a big jump from Starlink\u2019s current network offerings, which is currently only used for sending and receiving texts. The company claims<\/a> it\u2019ll offer voice calls soon. And that two-year timeline? Take it with a grain of salt, given Musk\u2019s longstanding history of overpromising<\/a>, but it does at least give some clarity as to his company\u2019s end goal.<\/p>\n

As for starting up a network to compete with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, Musk didn\u2019t rule it out when talking to the All-In guys, who are always more than happy to drink the Kool-Aid unprompted. Musk said that purchasing a mobile network provider like Verizon in the future is \u201cnot out of the question.\u201d According to The Washington Post\u2019s reporting<\/a>, Starlink likely doesn\u2019t have the spectrum to compete in urban environments where volume is massive and competitors have the infrastructure advantage when it comes to handling that traffic. So getting into those spaces may require an acquisition rather than building its own network.<\/p>\n

If Musk and SpaceX were to go that route, it\u2019s unlikely they would face regulatory hurdles under the current administration. As WaPo pointed out<\/a>, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission appointed by Donald Trump, called SpaceX\u2019s spectrum purchase a \u201cpotential game changer\u201d for mobile networks. You\u2019re probably not going to see an in-depth review of potential antitrust concerns when the top cop on the beat has pom-poms in his hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s has been partnering with mobile carriers like T-Mobile to offer its satellite internet service Starlink to extend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,95860,11,95861,13540,1513,5408],"class_list":["post-157117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cellular","tag-elon-musk","tag-mobile-network","tag-satellites","tag-spacex","tag-starlink"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}