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SpaceX has agreed to purchase 800 MHz low-band spectrum for $8 billion, a move Walter Piecyk of LightShed Partners identifies as the critical step toward building a terrestrial mobile network to compete with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
This acquisition follows SpaceX's prior purchase of nearly $20 billion worth of EchoStar spectrum and the FCC's approval for the deployment of 15,000 next-generation Starlink satellites.
Piecyk argues that satellites alone cannot provide the coverage required for mobile phones, particularly indoors or in areas without direct line-of-sight, necessitating a ground-based infrastructure layer.
The 800 MHz band, originally associated with Nextel's push-to-talk service, has changed hands multiple times before SpaceX's entry.
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