SpaceX is trying to put Starlink Mobile on the ground as well as in orbit. The company is in talks to secure at least 80,000 U.S. cell sites, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 22, citing people familiar with the matter. Crown Castle is one of the major tower companies in those talks, according to the report.
The same week, CTIA and the three big U.S. carriers asked the FCC to narrow its plan to open more carrier spectrum to satellite-to-phone service. The FCC is expected to vote on that plan on Oct. 29, which will be a key factor for SpaceX’s mobility ambitions in North America.
The Tower Talks
According to Reuters, the 80,000 sites would equal about half of the 158,500 purpose-built cell towers operating in the U.S. last year, a figure from the Wireless Infrastructure Association. Crown Castle runs about 40,000 U.S. towers, American Tower about 42,000 and privately held Vertical Bridge around 18,000. TD Cowen estimates a nationwide land-based network would cost more than $80 billion and take years to build.
On Crown Castle’s Q3 earnings call on Oct. 22, CEO Chris Hillabrant was asked whether the company is discussing leases with SpaceX, Amazon or other satellite providers. “You can assume that we’re talking to all parties,” he said, declining to discuss specific customers. He called SpaceX’s low-band spectrum purchase a “huge milestone” for broad mobile coverage.
Crown Castle shares rose as much as 10% in late trading after the report. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile fell between 4.2% and 5% in extended trading.
On Verizon’s Q3 call on Oct. 26, CEO Dan Schulman said a SpaceX ground network would need 65,000 to 80,000 macro sites, backhaul and “a tremendous amount of spectrum.” “It’s going to take a minimum of four to six years to fully build that out. It’s going to cost hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, I assume somewhere between $300 billion and $500 billion over the next seven or eight years,” he said (transcript). That is Verizon’s estimate; SpaceX has not given a cost. Musk replied on X: “Will take 2 or 3 years.”
“We will be building out our terrestrial networks so there’s broad-based connectivity anywhere that SpaceX and Starlink are allowed to operate.”
-Elon Musk, October 20th, SpaceX Q3 2026 Earnings Call
SpaceX plans to pair the towers with the 15,000-satellite direct-to-device constellation the FCC approved earlier this month and the low-band spectrum SpaceX is buying.
AT&T CEO John Stankey pushed back on that on AT&T’s Q3 call on Oct. 21. “I wouldn’t over-rotate on what I would call one carrier of low-band spectrum,” he said, noting AT&T runs six to eight low-band carriers, including in-building systems, and that “it takes a lot of years and a huge level of investment” to match existing scaled networks.
What the Carriers Asked the FCC
On Oct. 8 the FCC released a proposed rulemaking on Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS), the framework that lets satellites serve phones on carrier spectrum. It would add 482 MHz and grow the number of SCS bands from five to 13 (GN Dockets 26-281 and 23-65). It would also replace today’s lease requirement with a certification that the satellite operator has coexistence agreements covering the area, or holds the terrestrial licences itself.
CTIA, the wireless industry group, met with the offices of Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty on Oct. 20, alongside AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. According to its filing, the group asked the FCC to:
- Drop the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands from the proposal. Both are time-division bands, and CTIA says more than 300 million users rely on them.
- Keep the lease model, so carriers retain “meaningful consent” and control over satellite use of their spectrum.
- Study further before setting a firm limit on satellite signal strength at licence-area edges.
- Hold satellite and tower networks to the same performance metrics and “same customer, same rules” consumer obligations.
T-Mobile filed its own letter after separate meetings with FCC offices on Oct. 19. CTIA’s filing does not name SpaceX, and the group says it supports satellite service for remote and disaster-hit areas. Today, satellite service on carrier spectrum needs a deal with the carrier, which is how T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service with Starlink works.
What Happens Next
The October 29th vote with the FCC is merely a vote to table and propose the rules, not enact them into final legislation. The proposal can still change before the vote, and a comment period would follow.
We also don’t know if SpaceX has put together partnerships with any of the major tower providers at this point, but will likely find out more later in Q4.
