Reports say SpaceX Eyeing 80,000 US Cell Sites as Starlink Mobile Ambitions Grow

SpaceX is reportedly in talks to secure access to at least 80,000 cellular sites across the US, in a move that could turn Starlink Mobile from a satellite coverage service into a direct competitor to the country's largest mobile operators.

According to Bloomberg, the company is discussing potential leasing agreements with tower infrastructure providers, including Crown Castle, as it explores the terrestrial network needed to support a nationwide mobile service. No agreements have been confirmed, and the discussions remain at an early stage.

The scale of the proposal is significant, and eighty thousand sites would represent roughly half of the purpose-built cellular towers operating in the US, putting a potential SpaceX deployment in the same broad range as the existing networks of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.

The reported talks follow SpaceX's recent spectrum acquisitions and its regulatory approval to deploy up to 15,000 next-generation Starlink satellites. Together, those developments are beginning to outline a more ambitious strategy combining satellite-to-device connectivity with a substantial terrestrial mobile network.

SpaceX has already discussed using smaller ground-based cells and equipment at Starlink broadband installations to provide local mobile coverage. However, a large-scale tower leasing programme would represent a more conventional, and considerably more expensive, approach to building nationwide cellular capacity.

Analysts estimate the cost of constructing a competitive terrestrial network could exceed $80 billion, with some putting the figure above $100 billion before additional spectrum costs. Such a deployment would also take years, making the economics and execution of a fourth national mobile network a major challenge.

There is also uncertainty over whether SpaceX intends to pursue a full network build or is using the prospect to strengthen its negotiating position with existing mobile operators. Analysts at New Street Research and BNP Paribas have suggested the company may still prefer an MVNO arrangement that would provide access to established terrestrial networks without requiring it to build everything from scratch.

That route has so far met resistance from the major US operators, which have shown little enthusiasm for providing wholesale network access to a potential new competitor. A hybrid approach combining leased infrastructure, selective network construction and an MVNO agreement remains another possibility.