Crown Castle shares jump 10% after talks with SpaceX over 80,000 cell sites
Key Facts
Crown Castle shares rose as much as 10% in late trading after a Bloomberg report said SpaceX was in talks to access cell sites in the United States. The report said the company was targeting access to at least 80,000 sites and that Crown Castle was among the infrastructure companies it was speaking with. The talks put communications towers and their sites within SpaceX’s plans to expand its presence in mobile services. But the report did not announce a signed agreement or confirmed partnership between the two companies. In the market reaction, the stock’s gain exceeded the percentage cited in the initial version of the story, which was not supported by the open source.
Crown Castle Chief Executive Chris Hillabrant confirmed talks with parties in the sector, without naming the companies it was negotiating with. Asked about SpaceX, Amazon or satellite communications providers, he said: "You can assume that we are talking to all parties." The statement indicates that the company is exploring opportunities with more than one party, but does not establish that SpaceX is a specific prospective customer or that the talks have reached the agreement stage. According to Bloomberg, SpaceX is targeting multiple sites to expand coverage of its terrestrial network. Access to tower sites remains part of commercial talks whose terms and outcome are unclear.
SpaceX’s plan combines terrestrial networks and satellite connectivity. Elon Musk said the company would work to build terrestrial networks to provide broadband connectivity wherever SpaceX and Starlink are allowed to operate. The Federal Communications Commission also approved the deployment of an additional 7,500 second-generation satellites, raising the total number of licensed satellites in that generation to 15,000. The approval covers direct-to-phone connectivity outside the United States and supplemental coverage within it. Musk said: "We will build our terrestrial networks to provide broadband connectivity everywhere SpaceX and Starlink are allowed to operate."
The site talks come as SpaceX seeks to enter the mobile services market, potentially opening a source of lease revenue for tower operators while traditional telecom companies face concerns about a new competitor. On the first trading day after the low-band spectrum deal was announced on October 9, AT&T shares fell 9.8%, Verizon fell 8.8% and T-Mobile fell 13.3%. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in August that the company expected to attract some customers from existing telecom companies because it believed its service would be better. Axios reported that SpaceX executives are planning to launch the mobile service business in late 2027. That timetable places the company’s commercial entry in the future, while current talks focus on access to the sites needed to support the network.
The news coincided with Crown Castle’s third-quarter 2026 results, which showed a divergence between declines in revenue and net income and growth in adjusted funds available for distribution. Site rental revenue was $966 million, down from $1,012 million in the same quarter of 2025, a year-over-year decline of 5%. Net income fell to $283 million from $323 million, a decline of 12%. By contrast, adjusted funds available for distribution totaled $530 million, or $1.24 a share, up 8% and 11% year over year, respectively. The figures show that the quarter’s performance varied by company metric, with pressure on rental revenue and net income but improvement in funds available for distribution.
On October 21, Crown Castle raised the midpoint of its 2026 outlook for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to $2,715 million and for adjusted funds available for distribution to $1,980 million. The chief financial officer said the higher outlook reflected increased activity in land-lease purchases, additional operating efficiencies and the impact of an agreement with a customer. The company also raised its full-year outlook for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by $25 million and for adjusted funds available for distribution by $5 million. In previous trading, Crown Castle shares closed at $82.26 on October 16, $81.06 on October 19, $81.14 on October 20, $78.65 on October 21 and $78.83 on October 22. The report on the talks was published on October 22, and the closing-price record does not specify the timing of publication relative to the stock’s close that day.