SpaceX agrees to buy 800 MHz spectrum for Starlink Mobile

SpaceX agreed on October 8, 2026, to buy a nationwide set of 800 MHz licenses from investment firm Grain Management. The portfolio covers up to 14 MHz of paired low-band spectrum, which SpaceX says in its Starlink Mobile update will carry signals into buildings.

SpaceX will pay about $8 billion in cash, Reuters reported, citing the Wall Street Journal. Neither company has disclosed the terms, and the deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

The 800 MHz licenses add a coverage layer that reaches indoors

Starlink Mobile already holds global 2 GHz mid-band spectrum, which SpaceX uses for capacity. The company says the 800 MHz band adds coverage, because its signal passes through walls, and most existing phones already support it.

The application SpaceX filed with the FCC shows the plan isn't only about satellites. It describes standards-based radios feeding antennas on towers, rooftops and other structures, working alongside the satellite constellation.

The filing also traces the licenses' history. Nextel built them into a near-national footprint for its voice service, and they later landed with T-Mobile. According to the filing, they aren't used for any competing wireless service today.

Grain bought the portfolio from T-Mobile in August 2026 with cash and its own 600 MHz spectrum. The FCC had approved that sale in July.

SpaceX's FCC filing sets build-out deadlines for 2029 and 2034

The licenses come with rules the FCC set when it approved Grain's deal. For ground service, each license area needs 33% of its people, or 25% of its land, covered by July 1, 2029.

That rises to 66% of the people or 50% of the land by July 1, 2034. The owner can choose satellite targets instead, which run to November 2036.

SpaceX asked the FCC to approve the deal quickly. It's also filing to add the 800 MHz frequencies to its new satellite license, so the band could reach phones from space too.

The FCC approved 15,000 satellites but deferred parts of the request

On October 6, the FCC approved Starlink Mobile's second-generation network of 15,000 satellites, built for 2 GHz spectrum. SpaceX says they'll deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current satellites directly to unmodified phones.

That's SpaceX's own estimate, and no independent measurement is possible until the satellites are flying. The FCC order also granted the application only in part, a detail SpaceX's update doesn't mention.

The order put off a decision on SpaceX's use of the 2020-2025 MHz band for uplinks in the US. It also put off SpaceX's wider request for phone service outside the US across 1429-2690 MHz.

Carrier stocks fell, and Verizon called it empty airwaves

Telecom shares slid the next day. In afternoon trading on October 9, T-Mobile was down 13.2% and Verizon about 10%, Reuters reported, while tower companies rose between 6.5% and 13.3%.

Morgan Stanley analysts called the deal “incrementally constructive” for tower operators. They noted that even a network built around satellites could need towers, rooftops and small cells.

Verizon pushed back. Spokesman Rich Young told Reuters that spectrum is no use to a company without a network to run it: “It's just empty airwaves.”

JPMorgan analysts, quoted by CNBC, saw “limited near-term risk” to the big carriers, given the time, infrastructure and money a competing ground network needs. Evercore ISI was more upbeat, writing that SpaceX “now has the outline of a real network.”

FCC Chair Brendan Carr, whose agency must approve the deal, told CNBC: “It's not for us ultimately to pick winners and losers.”

On Reddit, the r/Starlink thread on the carrier plan had 192 comments when we read it on October 11. About three in five of the 30 most-replied comments argued over how a phone could reach a satellite without a dish.

Only two mentioned the ground towers that SpaceX's filing describes. Four doubted Starlink Mobile could rival the carriers, citing price hikes or limited bandwidth. That's a snapshot of reactions, not a survey.

How can it connect without a dish

A Reddit user in r/Starlink, October 9

The deal still needs FCC approval, and SpaceX hasn't given a closing date, prices or a launch date for service on the new band. Its satellite-to-phone service has been commercial since July 2025, according to the filing.