SpaceX Buys Grain Management's 800MHz Spectrum Portfolio in Starlink Mobile Push

By Elias Schisgall

SpaceX agreed to acquire a portfolio of spectrum licenses for up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum from Grain Management, in what it described as a key step in its expansion into the U.S. mobile connectivity market.

The company said the spectrum, which lies in the 800 megahertz band, will complement its existing portfolio of 2 gigahertz mid-band spectrum.

The new spectrum deal comes as SpaceX's Starlink Mobile business is looking to take market share from T-Mobile US, AT&T, and Verizon, the three major U.S. telecommunications companies. SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said in August that she expects Starlink to "acquire quite a few of their customers because I think our service will be better."

Shares in AT&T fell 7.9% to $22.90 in after-hours trading. Verizon shares dropped 7.2% and T-Mobile shares slid 7.5%. Meanwhile, shares in SpaceX rose 1.1% to $162.49.

The 800 megahertz spectrum portfolio had previously been owned by T-Mobile. That company sold the portfolio to Grain in August, receiving $2.9 billion in cash and Grain's 600 megahertz spectrum licenses. The price of SpaceX's purchase was not disclosed.

SpaceX also said that it received approval this week from the Federal Communications Commission to launch 15,000 satellites optimized for global 2 gigahertz spectrum.

"With this new low-band spectrum and our Gen2 constellation, Starlink Mobile can now become the first network operator to deploy both satellite and terrestrial spectrum," the company said.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 08, 2026 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)