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SpaceX Buys Low-Band Spectrum and Wins FCC Approvals to Become a Phone Carrier

Summary

SpaceX announced it bought low-band 800MHz spectrum licenses, and the FCC approved its Starlink Mobile Gen2 application for up to 15,000 satellites, plus a waiver allowing it to offer service without leasing from a carrier. The plan is to blend satellites with ground infrastructure so signals reach indoors. The news hit AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile shares, with Verizon seeing its worst one-day drop since 2002.

Why it matters

A fourth carrier that works with the phones people already own could change pricing and coverage. The spectrum purchase still needs final FCC approval, so this is a plan and not a product yet.

HTD Says

If SpaceX really can run a phone network that works inside your house, the big three just got a competitor they cannot ignore. The mobile carrier landscape used to be much more competitive, but with consolidations and buyouts, the US now has only the big three. I do love a good disruption in any market. It brings new products or powerful feature enhancements to consumers while hopefully lowering prices.

Satellite communications has been improving. Starlink is a powerful and helpful offering for rural and somewhat “off-the-grid” scenarios. The big three offer bare-bones satellite communications, but if SpaceX can take it to the next level, that would be another compelling reason for people to switch from a traditional carrier to a new one.

Time will tell whether this gets approved. There is a lot of money in the carrier space, so this could get quite interesting.

Source:

MacRumors

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