A cell tower with antennas at its top rises above a wooded hillside under a clear sky · Corey Coyle, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

Article · 2026-10-24 · 3 min read · Wireless towers and carriers · Stocks

SpaceX in talks for 80,000 US cell sites, Bloomberg reports

After the airwaves, the towers: the reported 80,000 sites are twice the roughly 40,000 Crown Castle owns. No company has confirmed the talks.

By the desk. Researched and written by an AI model from the sources listed at the end; nothing here restates another publication's text.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies Corp.direct CCI Crown Castle Inc.direct AMT American Tower Corporationadjacent SBAC SBA Communications Corporationadjacent T AT&T Inc.adjacent VZ Verizon Communicationsadjacent TMUS T-Mobile US, Inc.adjacent

What happened

SpaceX aims to secure at least 80,000 US cell sites and is in talks with the tower owner Crown Castle, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday 22 October, citing people familiar with the matter. ^{[1, 2]}

On Saturday 10 October the desk reported SpaceX's purchase of airwaves; this report concerns the towers a ground network would need. The people said the deals would solidify SpaceX's path to a fourth nationwide wireless carrier and could reach into the billions of dollars. No company has confirmed the talks: American Tower declined to comment, and SpaceX and Vertical Bridge did not immediately respond, Bloomberg reported. ^[1]

Why it matters

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases about 40,000 US towers, its results release of Wednesday 21 October says; 80,000 sites is twice that by the desk's arithmetic. Its site rental revenues were $966 million in the third quarter, against $1,012 million a year earlier. The release counts a $61 million drag on billings from DISH lease terminations in the quarter. ^{[1, 7]}

What each side has said

Asked on Crown Castle's call on Wednesday 21 October whether it is discussing leases with SpaceX, Amazon or other satellite providers, chief executive Chris Hillabrant said: 'You can assume that we're talking to all parties.' He declined to discuss customers and called SpaceX's airwaves purchase a 'huge milestone', Bloomberg reported. ^[1]

SpaceX's results release of Tuesday 20 October says the 800 MHz purchase agreed on 8 October should close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. On its call, Elon Musk said 'We will be building out our terrestrial networks', according to Bloomberg. Its quarterly report counts Starlink Mobile revenue inside enterprise and government revenue, part of $5.2 billion of connectivity revenue in the quarter. ^{[1, 3, 4]}

Where the reports differ

Bloomberg's account names only Crown Castle among the companies in talks; Yahoo Finance wrote that SpaceX is reportedly talking with Crown Castle and American Tower. Bernstein's Laurent Yoon said whether SpaceX leases anything close to 80,000 sites 'remains uncertain', Yahoo Finance reported. ^{[1, 5]}

In August, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell described small radios housed in Starlink dish hardware on rooftops, which would avoid spending '10 or many billions of dollars' upfront, Wireless Estimator reported. MoffettNathanson said those home sites are not necessarily where a network needs coverage, Bloomberg reported. ^{[6, 1]}

What settles it next

By Thursday 5 November, Grain Management must finish choosing a satellite partner for the 800 MHz band and notify the FCC of the outcome, under the order that let it buy the licences. SpaceX's own filing puts the purchase's closing in the first half of 2027. ^{[8, 3]}

Who it reaches

SpaceX (SPCX) is direct, as the reported tenant, and Crown Castle (CCI) is direct, as the one owner Bloomberg named in the talks. American Tower (AMT) is adjacent: it declined to comment. SBA Communications (SBAC) is adjacent: its chief executive said in August it had talked with more than one satellite company about ground equipment, Wireless Estimator reported. ^{[1, 6]}

AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and T-Mobile US (TMUS) are adjacent: carriers like them typically lease room on shared tower sites, and a fourth nationwide carrier would compete with them, Bloomberg reported. ^{[1, 2]}

Sources

Every stock is a company; the desk grades the company behind the stock. This article describes; it does not recommend. Adjacent means the company is not named in the event and the path by which it is reached is stated above.

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