SpaceX is reportedly in talks with EchoStar to buy Boost Mobile or get access to its network, The Washington Post reported on Nov. 2, citing people familiar with the negotiations. A deal would give SpaceX millions of phone customers and a retail brand years before its own Starlink Mobile phone service is due.
Neither company has confirmed anything. No price, structure or timeline has been reported, and SpaceX and EchoStar did not immediately respond to Reuters.
What The Post Reported
The Post called a Boost deal “a potential back door into the $235 billion wireless market.” SpaceX has reportedly held talks with EchoStar in recent months about launching its own branded wireless service through the company, and Musk reportedly discussed the deal personally, meeting EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month, Reuters reported, citing The Post.
The Post also reported that Musk asked the heads of Verizon and other top carriers in recent months to give SpaceX access to their networks so it could launch its own mobile phone service.
Why Boost
EchoStar had 7.38 million wireless subscribers at the end of the second quarter, mostly Boost Mobile and Gen Mobile customers, according to Reuters. Buying Boost or using its network would hand SpaceX a ready-made subscriber base and a way to sell plans in the U.S. now.
SpaceX and EchoStar already have a relationship, separate from the reported Boost talks: in September 2025, the companies agreed to a deal worth about $17 billion in cash and stock for EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licences, and Boost customers were expected to get access to SpaceX’s planned satellite-to-phone service as part of it, The Next Web noted.
The Catch: AT&T and T-Mobile
Boost leases its network from AT&T and T-Mobile, according to Reuters, and those agreements may not transfer to a new owner without the carriers’ approval, according to the Post’s report. That gives two of SpaceX’s would-be rivals a say in whether any deal works.
T-Mobile has already signalled where it stands. “I see no room for an MVNO with SpaceX,” CEO Srini Gopalan said on the company’s Oct. 28 earnings call, TIKR reported.
Investors moved on the report. EchoStar shares rose about 3.4% in premarket trading on Monday, while T-Mobile slipped 2% and AT&T and Verizon edged lower, Reuters reported.
Where Starlink Mobile Stands
SpaceX’s own carrier plan is still more than a year out. On the Oct. 20 third-quarter call, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company would fly the Starlink Mobile V2 constellation through 2027 and integrate its spectrum purchases to turn on service in early 2028, Mobile World Live reported. That includes the 800 MHz low-band spectrum SpaceX agreed to buy from Grain Management, a deal expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval.
Analysts have pointed to the costs SpaceX would face as a fourth major U.S. carrier: ground infrastructure, customer service, handset subsidies and promotions, all areas where AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile already run large operations, according to Reuters. Boost would not solve all of that, but it comes with customers.
SpaceX has also been looking for 80,000 U.S. cell sites to pair with its satellites. More in SpaceX Eyes 80,000 U.S. Cell Towers for Starlink Mobile Network.
