Elon Musk is considering a plan to acquire a US telecom company so that SpaceX can run its own mobile network for Starlink, according to bdnews24.com. The report, drawing on The Washington Post, says the billionaire is weighing a purchase of EchoStar's Boost Mobile or a lease of its cellular network.
Citing The Independent, bdnews24.com reports that the move is intended to position Starlink as a serious challenger to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the American market. Boost Mobile, which operates as a mobile virtual network operator, serves more than seven million customers in the United States.
Starlink currently delivers broadband internet to millions of American subscribers through its constellation of thousands of low-Earth-orbit satellites. Taking over Boost Mobile would allow the company to combine satellite and ground-based infrastructure into a single hybrid network.
Why it matters
Buying an established mobile brand would hand SpaceX something satellites alone cannot provide quickly: a large existing customer base, distribution channels and a working retail network. That would let Starlink enter the US wireless market directly rather than only as a partner to carriers.
The company has already launched 65 Starlink mobile satellites, known as V2, capable of delivering a direct-to-cell service. The technology lets compatible smartphones connect straight to satellites without any conventional mobile tower. It is designed to bring connectivity to "dead zones" where ordinary networks have no coverage or signal.
According to Starlink's website, as quoted in the reporting, direct-to-cell works with LTE phones wherever the sky is visible, with no hardware or firmware changes and no special app required. The service is said to support texting, voice calls and data.
Partnerships today, ownership tomorrow
At present, the service runs through partnerships with established mobile network operators in several markets, and the US operation works with T-Mobile. Acquiring Boost Mobile would give SpaceX direct access to the American wireless market instead of relying on such arrangements.
There are obstacles. Boost Mobile leases its network capacity from AT&T, and that existing agreement may not transfer automatically if SpaceX takes over the business. The report notes that the deal could also face legal or other hurdles.
For now, the plan remains under discussion rather than announced. What to watch is whether SpaceX formally moves on Boost Mobile or settles for a network lease, and how AT&T responds to any change in the underlying capacity arrangement.
