Newscasts - SpaceX buys wireless spectrum from EchoStar in $17 billion deal
08/09/2025 18:51
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_q9r0tqlw&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2025:newsml_RW314708092025RP1_930&pageId=Newscasts Source: 'Reuters - Business videos' Description: Elon Musk's SpaceX said Monday it will buy wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for its Starlink satellite network for about $17 billion, a major deal crucial to expanding Starlink's nascent 5G connectivity business. Alex Cohen has more. Short Link: https://lseg.group/3V74w1O Video Transcript: Elon Musk芒聙聶s SpaceX said on Monday it will buy wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for its Starlink satellite network for about $17 billion. Shares of EchoStar jumped more than 25% in morning trading. Meanwhile, shares of US wireless carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all fell following the news. Shedding 3% and 6% each at their lowest points Monday morning. The deal is crucial to SpaceX and its effort to expand Starlink芒聙聶s 5G connectivity business. It comes months after the Federal Communications Commission raised concerns about whether EchoStar was meeting its obligations to deploy 5G in the US. President Donald Trump had earlier prodded the company and FCC Chair Brendan Carr to reach an amicable deal over the fate of the company's wireless spectrum licenses. EchoStar in August sold some wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T for $23 billion, its first move to resolve the regulatory probe. This Spectrum purchase allows SpaceX to start building and deploying upgraded laser connected satellites that the company said will expand the cell networks capacity by more than 100 times. It also said the deal will help it end mobile dead zones around the world. The push comes amid fast rising wireless usage. Industry group CTIA said on Monday that Americans used a record 132 trillion megabytes of mobile data last year, up 35% over the prior all-time record. In addition to the spectrum sale, EchoStar and SpaceX have entered into a commercial agreement which will enable EchoStar芒聙聶s boost mobile subscribers to access Starlink direct to cell service.