Verizon closed down 8.75%, its worst day since 2002, while T-Mobile fell 13.27% and AT&T 9.81% after SpaceX announced a nationwide spectrum deal on Thursday (CJ Haddad/CNBC)

Telecommunications stocks plummeted after SpaceX announced a nationwide spectrum deal. Verizon's stock closed down 8.75%, its worst day since 2002, while T-Mobile fell 13.27% and AT&T 9.81%.

SpaceX has agreed to purchase a nationwide low-band spectrum license portfolio of up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band from investment firm Grain Management. According to Ars Technica, Grain Management bought the spectrum rights from T-Mobile earlier this year, which T-Mobile had obtained when it bought Sprint in 2020.

The acquisition, subject to FCC approval, will allow SpaceX to roll out its own terrestrial infrastructure and provide reliable signal coverage. This week, the FCC also approved SpaceX's application to launch an additional 15,000 satellites optimized for 2 GHz spectrum globally, which will support its Starlink mobile service.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, Ars Technica, Ars Technica Policy, The Register Science, The Register — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.