SpaceX has held talks with Boost’s parent company, EchoStar, in recent months about launching its own signature wireless service through a deal with the company, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Musk, the SpaceX chief executive, has discussed the deal personally, meeting with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month, according to the people. The potential deal may result in SpaceX acquiring Boost Mobile or SpaceX gaining access to its network, which it leases from AT&T and T-Mobile US, the people said.
Access to those lease agreements would be a coup for SpaceX. The back door would allow Musk to make a play for a US wireless market that equity research firm MoffettNathanson estimates is worth US$235 billion ($419b). But the proposed service may need consent from those carriers for the service to actually launch, the people said.
Though SpaceX has built its reputation on rocket launches and putting satellites into orbit, Musk has described his vision of transforming it into a mega-company that uses its technology to deliver an array of services.
The diversity is necessary to bring revenue streams that Musk estimates hitting US$1 trillion annually as soon as 2027, and justify a valuation that Musk has said could eventually exceed the economy of planet Earth.
“Veterans of the cellular industry look at the chess board of existing pieces and don’t see a solution,” Musk said recently. “They don’t understand that SpaceX is developing entirely new pieces that fundamentally alter the strategic landscape.”
Verizon and EchoStar declined to comment. AT&T and T-Mobile did not respond to requests for comment. SpaceX and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Three of the people said a carrier’s lease agreement would not typically be transferable to a new buyer without the major carrier’s permission.
SpaceX desired a built-out mobile network to begin transforming its more than 12,000 satellites into a significant new source of revenue and advance its goal of establishing a human settlement on Mars, said two people familiar with the talks.
Any Mars colony would need a way to communicate, and mastering satellite connectivity could be key to providing it, the people said.
Musk and SpaceX executives have talked openly about their ambitions of building a major cellphone service. On a recent earnings call, SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnsen laid out the company’s aim to “become a major mobile carrier … in the United States”.
SpaceX last month agreed to buy US$8 billion of wireless spectrum licences tailored for cell service in places satellites can’t reach.
“This is the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America,” Musk said on X.
In reality, experts see barriers to SpaceX’s ambition. Millions of cellphones are clustered in urban centres, where direct-to-satellite connections are inefficient.
SpaceX’s satellite signal isn’t currently strong enough to support cell coverage indoors and in urban areas, said Tim Farrar, a satellite-industry analyst and president of TMF Associates. A deal with a carrier like Boost could let SpaceX provide service over traditional cell towers while it’s still working to improve satellite connectivity, he added.
Executives at the major carriers have publicly expressed scepticism that Musk could recreate the vast networks of cell towers, antennas and other earthbound infrastructure that SpaceX lacks.
After Verizon’s chief executive said it would take four to six years for SpaceX to build out that infrastructure, Musk estimated the timeline would be about half that. Musk has been known to provide overly optimistic timelines.
Drew Cupps, a portfolio manager at the firm Polen Capital, said traditional carriers should doubt Musk’s ability to build out the necessary infrastructure at their own risk. He pointed to Musk’s construction of a massive Supercharger network, which encompasses 80,000 chargers around the world. The carriers, he said, “are right to be spooked and agitated at the same time”.
“At the highest level, Musk is saying, ‘I can provide data to hundreds of millions of customers … in a much better way than the business has been,’” Cupps said.
The major carriers have baulked at the feasibility of Musk’s ideas, which they view as fantastical, even as they have gained traction among investors.
But Cupps said the first carrier to ally with him – either overtly or informally – could stand to benefit over its rivals.
“It’s a massive strategic question,” he said. “Five years from now, either none of them will have moved or one of them will have moved. … Is the guy that teamed up, is that person, that entity, going to be the one that comes out on top?”
