A $235 Billion Market at the Center of SpaceX Talks to Buy Boost Mobile or Use Its Network
Key Facts
SpaceX has been in talks with EchoStar for months to buy Boost Mobile or use its network as it seeks to launch its own wireless service, The Washington Post reported on November 2. The newspaper put the U.S. wireless market at about $235 billion, citing research firm MoffettNathanson. Reuters reported that Elon Musk personally discussed the deal with EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen and met with him in the month before the report was published. Available information provided no details of a final agreement or its terms. Using Boost could give SpaceX a ready-made subscriber base and distribution platform to help accelerate its plan for a hybrid Starlink Mobile network, Reuters reported.
Boost leases its network from AT&T and T-Mobile, and transferring the lease agreements to a new owner could require the two companies’ approval, Reuters reported. That makes their approval an influential factor in the path of any deal involving a purchase of Boost or continued use of its existing infrastructure. SpaceX plans to develop a service combining satellite connectivity with ground infrastructure, while building a competing wireless network requires investment in ground infrastructure, customer service, handset support and promotions, Reuters reported. These are areas in which major telecom companies operate at scale. Alongside the talks, EchoStar said Boost would continue to compete as a hybrid carrier, using its own cloud-based 5G core and AT&T cell sites while retaining access to T-Mobile’s network.
The talks come as EchoStar’s wireless subscriber base contracted in the second quarter of 2026. The company lost about 118,000 subscribers during the quarter, following an increase of 212,000 in the same period of 2025, and ended it with 7.38 million subscribers, according to results published on August 3. Total revenue was $3.58 billion, compared with $3.72 billion in the second quarter of 2025. Wireless segment revenue was $929.023 million, versus $931.803 million a year earlier. Net income attributable to EchoStar was $8.46 billion, following a net loss of $306.13 million in the same period of the previous year; the company attributed 2026 income primarily to a non-cash gain of about $9.73 billion from deconsolidation.
The Boost talks are part of broader spectrum arrangements between EchoStar and SpaceX. Under a deal announced in September 2025, SpaceX agreed to pay about $2 billion in interest on EchoStar debt through November 2027, and the companies also struck a long-term commercial agreement allowing Boost subscribers to access Starlink Direct to Cell service, the Associated Press reported. The Federal Communications Commission approved applications to transfer spectrum licenses from EchoStar to SpaceX on May 12, 2026, subject to the terms of its order. The licenses include 10 megahertz of AWS H-Block, 40 megahertz of AWS-4, and between 5 and 15 megahertz of AWS-3, excluding the area specified in the order covering Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The order set November 30, 2027, as the expected date for final completion of the license transfers to SpaceX.
The regulatory order links the spectrum transfer to subsequent performance requirements. Nine years after November 30, 2027, service must be available 90% of the time across 90% of the geographic area of each license BEA, according to the Federal Communications Commission. This regulatory path is unfolding alongside SpaceX’s search for a terrestrial foothold through Boost, while EchoStar said the company would remain a hybrid carrier relying on its infrastructure and its connections with the AT&T and T-Mobile networks. The expected date for completion of the license transfers does not set a timeline for the Boost talks or determine their outcome. In premarket trading on November 2, EchoStar shares rose about 3.4%, while T-Mobile shares fell about 2%; AT&T and Verizon shares edged lower, Reuters reported.