Earthquake in the Sky – SpaceX Pays $8 Billion for Grain Management Airwaves to Advance Starlink Mobile

Space Mobile: Grain Management says it has a definitive agreement under which SpaceX will acquire all of Grain's 800 MHz spectrum portfolio involving 14MHz of paired nationwide spectrum. Elon Musk’s company is paying about $8 billion in cash for the airwaves, the Wall Street Journal said, citing “people familiar with the matter.” The agreement includes key low-band spectrum to support next-generation satellite direct-to-device services, enabling Starlink Mobile to reach customers from both the ground and space. In an X post, SpaceX said the Grain agreement with “will pave the way for Starlink to become a major mobile carrier in the U.S.” In extended-hours trading, Wall Street traders dumped AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon shares by about 6% each on the Grain transaction news despite repeated claims by mobile incumbents that Starlink Mobile does not have a viable strategy financially or scientifically. “With this new spectrum and our Gen2 constellation, Starlink Mobile can ensure Americans have access to high-speed mobile broadband no matter where they are,” SpaceX said. Musk said on X, “This is the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.” In another post, he said: “Very big deal.” (More after paywall)