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

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Oct 22 (Reuters) - SpaceX is in talks with cellular infrastructure companies to secure access to at least 80,000 sites across the United States, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The agreements would potentially solidify the company's path toward building a fourth nationwide wireless carrier.
SpaceX, which is buying nationwide low-band spectrum, is in talks with mobile infrastructure provider Crown Castle CCI.N, according to the report
TD Cowen estimated a nationwide terrestrial network would cost more than $80 billion, requiring many years and billions in additional spending
The 80,000 sites would equal half the 158,500 purpose-built cell towers operational in the US last year, according to the Wireless Infrastructure Association
Crown Castle operates about 40,000 US cell towers, while American Tower AMT.N has about 42,000 US sites; privately held Vertical Bridge owns around 18,000
Crown Castle CEO Christian Hillabrant said on Wednesday it was talking to "all parties", when asked about potential leases with SpaceX and Amazon AMZN.O, but declined to discuss specific customers
Crown Castle, American Tower, Vertical Bridge and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment
Shares of wireless carriers AT&T T.N, Verizon VZ.N and T-Mobile TMUS.O fell between 4.2% and 5% in extended trading

 (Reporting by Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
 ((Pragyan.Kalita@thomsonreuters.com;))