SpaceX eyes AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile customers with mobile service

The three biggest operators - AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. - generate hundreds of billions of revenue per year, SpaceX President said

By Ed Ludlow, Sana Pashankar and Kelcee Griffis

 

SpaceX fleshed out its plans to compete directly with the largest mobile phone carriers in the US by complementing its satellite-based internet service with land-based infrastructure.

 

The three biggest operators — AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. — generate hundreds of billions of revenue per year, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said during the company’s debut earnings call.

 

“I anticipate us being able to acquire quite a few of their customers, because I think our service will be better,” she said. “I’m quite excited about Starlink Mobile going forward.”

 

 

Shares of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile each fell more than 4 per cent in post-market trading after Shotwell’s comments.

 

SpaceX’s satellite internet business already beams data directly to mobile phones, shoring up service in dead zones for existing ground-based networks. While adding land-based components, such as cell towers, would better position Starlink to compete, doing so will be costly. Constructing and operating nationwide networks require billions of dollars in physical infrastructure, along with scarce government-regulated airwaves.

 

“We definitely intend to build out the terrestrial component,” Shotwell said. “So you will have not only the capacity from the satellites themselves, but you will have a build-out of the hardware and systems necessary to make a true mobile service.”

 

SpaceX’s plans to lure customers away from longstanding operators will require launching a network of upgraded Starlink satellites, acquiring rights to more spectrum — the radio waves needed to beam coverage — and securing access to thousands of cell towers and small cell nodes. All of this could take years.

 

One shortcut that’s likely unavailable to SpaceX is a network rental partnership, under which companies including Charter Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. have become what’s known as mobile virtual network operators. The mobile carriers have said they would not give SpaceX access to their networks in an MVNO capacity.

 

The companies have made other defensive moves, announcing a rare three-way joint venture that aims to make satellite capabilities more readily available to mobile phone customers. SpaceX notably was not part of that tie-up, unveiled in May.

 

Still, SpaceX has shown a willingness to get creative. Bloomberg reported last month that SpaceX held talks with Charter about running some of its phone traffic through the largest home-internet provider’s ground-based infrastructure.