U.S. telecom shares fall after SpaceX spectrum agreement

Shares of major U.S. wireless operators fell sharply on October 9 as investors weighed SpaceX’s plans to buy a nationwide spectrum portfolio from Grain Management and expand Starlink into mobile services.

CNBC reported during Friday’s trading that T-Mobile shares were down about 13%, while Verizon and AT&T were each roughly 10% lower. Those figures described moves during the session, rather than final closing prices.

Grain announced the agreement on October 8. It said SpaceX would acquire its nationwide portfolio in the 800 MHz band, subject to Federal Communications Commission approval and other closing conditions. SpaceX described the portfolio as including up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum.

Analysts cited by CNBC saw stronger long-term prospects for Starlink Mobile. JPMorgan nevertheless cautioned that building a competitive terrestrial network requires substantial time, infrastructure and investment, limiting the immediate threat to established U.S. operators.