T-Mobile US shares fell 5% by 11:15 a.m. Friday after a Bloomberg report said SpaceX is looking to lease 80,000 cell towers on the ground and plans to build a fourth major mobile carrier to compete with T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. Two weeks earlier, SpaceX agreed to pay $8 billion for up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band from Grain Management, a move it said would pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major U.S. carrier. The towers would supplement the 15,000 direct-to-cell Starlink satellites SpaceX has asked the FCC to launch. According to the article, SpaceX's Starlink Connectivity business posted a 45% operating margin, versus under 6% in AI and negative profits in space launch, while T-Mobile's operating margin is 22%, which could fall further under new competition.
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