SpaceX Is Looking at 80,000 Cell Towers
Earlier this month I wrote about why Starlink Mobile does not need to copy traditional carriers. Critics argued that satellites cannot handle dense city traffic and that putting small radios on customer rooftops only adds signal where existing subscribers live, not everywhere a mobile network needs steady coverage.
As I pointed out in that article, the big three wireless carriers do not own most of the towers they use either. Independent tower companies own the sites, lease space to multiple carriers, and make more money when another company puts equipment on the same tower. Now SpaceX is apparently in talks with tower owners including Crown Castle to lease space on at least 80,000 cell sites across the US. Just like earlier this month, Crown Castle shares jumped as much as 10 percent on the news while the big three carriers each fell around 5 percent.
SpaceX does not have to build a tower network from scratch or match the big three everywhere on day one. By combining 15,000 phone-capable satellites for wide areas, low-band spectrum that reaches indoors, rooftop radios where customers already are, and leased space on existing towers where consistent ground coverage is needed, it is removing one obstacle at a time.
Originally published on LinkedIn.