SpaceX seeks access to 80,000 US cell sites for wireless network, Bloomberg News reports

SpaceX is reportedly in discussions with cellular infrastructure companies to gain access to a minimum of 80,000 sites across the United States, according to Bloomberg News. This move could potentially pave the way for the establishment of the company's fourth nationwide wireless carrier. SpaceX, which has recently acquired nationwide low-band spectrum, is currently in talks with mobile infrastructure provider Crown Castle, as per the report.

The estimates suggest that constructing a nationwide terrestrial network could cost over $80 billion, necessitating considerable time and substantial further expenditures. The 80,000 sites would constitute half of the 158,500 purpose-built cell towers operational in the US last year, as reported by the Wireless Infrastructure Association.

Among the operators of these towers, Crown Castle manages approximately 40,000 US cell towers, while American Tower oversees around 42,000 US sites; privately held Vertical Bridge owns around 18,000.

Crown Castle's CEO, Christian Hillabrant, commented on Wednesday that his company was in talks with all parties regarding potential leases with SpaceX and Amazon, although he refrained from discussing specific customers. Neither Crown Castle, American Tower, Vertical Bridge, nor SpaceX provided immediate responses to Reuters' requests for comment. Meanwhile, shares of wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile experienced declines of between 4.2% and 5% during extended trading.