Elon Musk wants to start Starlink mobile service, stocks of US carriers are already taking a hit

Published 5 August 2026 · finance

Elon Musk wants to disrupt the US telecom market. After the release of satellite connectivity service Starlink, Musk’s SpaceX wants to go further, and turn

Elon Musk wants to disrupt the US telecom market. After the release of satellite connectivity service Starlink, Musk’s SpaceX wants to go further, and turn Starlink into a complete mobile service, similar to Jio and Airtel in India. And SpaceX’s plans may have already impacted the big three US carriers – T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. During an earnings call on Tuesday, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell announced the company’s plans. “We definitely intend to build out the terrestrial component,” Shotwell said. “So you will not only have the capacity from the satellites themselves, but you will have a buildout of the terrestrial – basically the hardware and systems necessary to make a true mobile service exactly what you want it to be.” Read Full Story This would allow Starlink to move beyond its current direct-to-device role in areas without cellular coverage and eventually compete more directly with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile – the 3 carriers that dominate the US market.

Shares of Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile fell between 2.2 per cent and 4 per cent after her comments. SpaceX targets $600 billion US market At present, Starlink acts mainly as a satellite back-up for phone carriers, using satellites like cell towers in space to connect compatible phones when ground-based service is unavailable, including in remote areas and emergency situations. To turn Starlink into a full cellular service, SpaceX plans to use 65MHz of wireless spectrum licences that it acquired from EchoStar for a total of $19.6 billion last year, giving Starlink the airwaves it needs to expand into mobile services. According to Gwynne Shotwell Starlink is confident of getting a piece of the $600 billion US cellular market. "Roughly, between them (big three carriers), $600 billion a year. I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers,” she said.

“Our service will be better. We will eliminate dead zones leveraging the satellites in orbit. It will be better during any natural disaster.” Shotwell did not disclose the capital expenditure for the proposed network, but said the company had “great and new ideas” on how to do it in a capital-efficient way. She said SpaceX could use its own transceiver equipment, or base stations, and suggested that “you could put a base station, a cellular base station, on basically the gear that holds a Starlink broadband dish,” allowing the company to deploy “these little femtocells around the country” as needed rather than spend heavily upfront on low-band spectrum. SpaceX plans to have Starlink Mobile be fully functional before the end of next year. Do note that currently, SpaceX has a partnership with T-Mobile, where it provides direct-to-cell connectivity outside traditional cellular coverage, complementing rather than competing with the carrier’s network.