SpaceX buys 800 MHz spectrum, aims to make Starlink Mobile a major U.S. carrier
SpaceX said this week it has agreed to acquire a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum that it calls one of the last technical pieces needed for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile carrier in the United States.
The deal covers up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band. SpaceX said the airwaves are meant to fill a coverage gap that higher-frequency spectrum does not: penetration through walls and other obstacles so phones can stay connected indoors. The company also noted that most existing mobile devices already support the band, which it described as underused.
The purchase still needs final approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Once that is in hand, SpaceX said Starlink Mobile will use a hybrid architecture that combines its satellite-to-mobile constellation with a terrestrial network so devices can hand off between space and ground. Mid-band spectrum around 2 GHz, which SpaceX has previously lined up for global use, would supply capacity, while the new low-band licenses would act as a coverage layer for buildings, rural areas, and dead zones.
Separately, the FCC approved Starlink Mobile’s Gen2 constellation application, authorizing SpaceX to launch 15,000 satellites optimized for 2 GHz spectrum worldwide. SpaceX said those V2 satellites will deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current generation and bring high-speed service directly to unmodified phones. The FCC also authorized the full range of Ka-, V-, E-, and W-band backhaul frequencies used by Starlink’s V3 broadband satellites so they can work with the existing gateway network.
SpaceX framed the two steps as a path to a single network that works indoors, outdoors, and in places conventional cellular coverage does not reach. “With this new low-band spectrum and our Gen2 constellation, Starlink Mobile can now become the first network operator to deploy both satellite and terrestrial spectrum,” the company said.
The announcement identified the seller as Grain Management, which had acquired the 800 MHz licenses from T-Mobile earlier this year. No purchase price was disclosed in SpaceX’s update. Carrier shares fell after the news, and Verizon said spectrum alone is not a network.
The EchoStar spectrum deal that underpins much of Starlink Mobile’s mid-band plan is not expected to fully close until late 2027, so commercial use of that capacity remains on a longer timeline than the announcement’s framing suggests.
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