With the purchase of Spectrum, SpaceX will increase the capacity of its cell network to “more than 100 times” and help “end mobile dead zones.”
Released on September 8, 2025
SpaceX will purchase the Starlink Satellite Network wireless spectrum license for approximately $17 billion. This is a major transaction that is important to expand Starlink’s early 5G connection business.
The aerospace company owned by Elon Musk announced its purchase on Monday.
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The company has also agreed to a deal that allows Echostar’s Boost Mobile Subscriber to access the Starlink Direct-to-Cell service and expands satellite services to areas without service.
With the purchase of Spectrum, SpaceX can begin building and deploying upgraded laser-connected satellites.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said the deal “will help end mobile dead zones around the world. SpaceX will develop the next-generation Starlink that will improve directly on cell satellites.
Pushing occurs during rapid rising wireless usage. In 2024, Americans used a record 132 trillion megabytes of mobile data, up 35% from previous thorough records, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) said Monday.
Since 2020, SpaceX has launched more than 8,000 Starlink satellites and has built a distributed network in low-earth orbit that saw demand from rural military forces, transport companies and consumers.
Approximately 600 of these satellites are what SpaceX calls “Space Cell Towers” – launched since January 2024 for the company’s direct network closer to Earth than other constellations.
Essential for the deployment of these large-scale satellites is Starship, SpaceX’s giant next-generation rockets, which have been in development for about 10 years. With the increasingly complex test launch, the Rocket is approaching its first operational Starlink mission, and is expected early next year.
The agreement comes months after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) raised concerns about whether Ecostal is competing with its use of the mobile satellite service spectrum and fulfilling its obligation to deploy 5G domestically.
Echostar said it expects that SpaceX’s transaction with AT&T transactions will resolve FCC inquiries.
A spokesman for the FCC said, “The deals that Echostar has reached with AT&T and Starlink will retain competitive potential, expand innovative new services to millions of Americans, and enhance US leadership in next-generation connectivity.”
In August, the company sold its nationwide wireless spectrum license to AT&T for $23 billion. AT&T agreed to obtain a national midband and low band spectrum of 50 MHz.
US President Donald Trump previously stabbed Ecostal and FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr to reach a friendly deal on the company’s wireless spectrum license.
Underused radio waves
SpaceX pays up to $8.5 billion in cash and issues inventory up to $8.5 billion. SpaceX also agrees to cover approximately $2 billion in interest payments on Echostar’s debt obligations by the second half of 2027.
After sale, Echostar will continue to operate the satellite TV service TV, streaming TV platform Sling, the HughesNet internet service and the Boost Mobile brand.
SpaceX has aggressively pushed the FCC to redistribute unused radio waves from satellites for telephone service after claiming that Echostar had not fulfilled its specific obligations.
In a letter to the FCC in April, SpaceX said the Echostar spectrum of the two Gigahertz band “remains ripe for sharing between next-generation satellite systems,” and the company said it left “the precious midband spectrum in chronically unused.”
With an agreement with Echostar, SpaceX can operate StarLink directly on the frequencies it owns, rather than relying solely on those leased from carriers leased from mobile carriers such as T-Mobile.
In May, the FCC approved Verizon’s $2 billion contract and acquired Fibre-Optic Internet Provider Frontier Communications. Verizon spent $5 billion in 2021 to acquire and clear the key spectrum.
The news sent Echostar stocks in New York, surged 14.7% as of 1pm (17:00 GMT). Stocks of US wireless carriers are heading downwards. AT&T is down 1.6% and T-Mobile is down 2.2%. Verizon also fell by 1.8%.
