SpaceX is negotiating to use 80,000 base stations to build a wireless network
In Silicon Valley, if Elon Musk says he is going to do something, no matter how absurd it sounds, traditional giants will immediately pay close attention to it.
A recent report from Bloomberg has put the boards of the three major US telecom operators AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile on high alert. According to people familiar with the matter, SpaceX is planning to build at least 80,000 ground base stations in the continental United States and is in negotiations with infrastructure giants including Crown Castle, which is one of the largest independent communications tower companies in the United States.
Combined with SpaceX's previous series of moves including acquiring low-band spectrum and obtaining FCC approval to launch 15,000 satellites for direct-to-cell services, Musk's strategic intention is relatively clear: he aims to build the fourth largest nationwide wireless operator in the United States, reshaping the communications market pattern dominated by traditional giants.
From "launching satellites" to "building towers", what kind of grand strategy is Musk playing? And how will these 80,000 base stations affect traditional operators?
Why does SpaceX, which "operates in space", want to build base stations on the ground?
Many people may wonder: SpaceX's core advantage is Starlink, the space satellite network, so why would it spend huge sums of money on traditional ground base stations?
The answer lies in the gap between the laws of physics and commercial reality.
Although Starlink's "Direct to Cell" business is advancing rapidly, the satellite network has two obvious physical limitations: capacity and indoor penetration.
No matter how large the bandwidth of a single satellite is, it cannot support the high-frequency concurrent usage of massive users in densely populated urban agglomerations such as New York and Los Angeles. In addition, satellite signals are extremely difficult to penetrate the walls and roofs of buildings, and the signal will drop significantly once users move indoors. More realistically, the current global experience of mobile phone direct-to-satellite services is limited by terminal transmission power and antenna gain, and most of it can only stay at the stage of sending text messages and transmitting low-speed images, far from meeting the standards of smooth short video streaming or high-definition voice calls.
Therefore, "Satellite-Terrestrial Integration" has become an important development direction for the communications industry.
Musk's idea is to use Starlink satellites to solve the coverage problem of "blind zones" such as vast remote areas, oceans and aviation; at the same time, use ground base stations to provide high-bandwidth, low-latency and stable connections in densely populated metropolitan areas. These 80,000 base stations are not a negation of Starlink, but a complement to it. While traditional operators are still traversing mountains and rivers to lay optical fibers and build macro base stations, Musk is trying to build a more comprehensively covered two-layer network with "space satellites + ground base stations", which will allow him to provide coverage experience that other operators in the current market can hardly match.
Reshaping the competitive landscape: The three major US operators are under pressure
If SpaceX really completes this dual space-ground network, it will pose significant competitive pressure on AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
First of all, there is the cost advantage. Traditional operators need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to upgrade 5G networks and compete for high-quality frequency bands in cities. With SpaceX's self-developed rocket recovery technology, the cost of satellite launches has been reduced to a relatively low level. The FCC's approval and the acquisition of low-band spectrum also provide a pass for its large-scale commercialization. When Musk uses satellites to solve most of the remote coverage and a small number of base stations to solve the network in dense areas, his marginal deployment cost will be lower than that of traditional operators.
Secondly, there is user choice and ecosystem binding. At present, Starlink has millions of home broadband users around the world. If SpaceX launches a bundled service: with only one monthly rent, users can not only use Starlink Wi-Fi at home, but also directly connect their mobile phones to satellite and ground networks when going out, without roaming. Faced with the temptation of this seamless connection, some users may switch to SpaceX's services. It is also worth noting that Musk can deeply bind the communication service to Tesla's connected car subscription, converting millions of Tesla car owners into potential basic telecom users.
Musk has publicly stated: "Satellite launches and spectrum acquisitions will pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile operator in the United States." This sentence is not empty talk, but a public declaration of competition to traditional giants.
Changes in the industrial chain: Who benefits and who is under pressure?
In this large-scale investment, the distribution of wealth in the industrial chain is changing.
The side that benefits more obviously is the communications tower companies that have previously faced operating pressure.
After the news came out, the stock prices of tower companies such as Crown Castle rose immediately. As we all know, affected by the high interest rate environment and the reduction of operators' capital expenditure, the tower companies have not had an easy time in the past two years. The large order of 80,000 base station leases placed by SpaceX may be worth billions of dollars, which is an important positive for them. The CEO of Crown Castle said on the earnings call: "You can assume that we are in talks with all relevant parties." Everyone is clear that if a cooperation can be established with Musk, the rental income in the next ten years will be more guaranteed.
The side under greater pressure, in addition to the three major operators, is the traditional communications equipment vendors.
The construction of traditional telecommunications networks relies heavily on expensive core network equipment provided by suppliers such as Ericsson and Nokia. However, SpaceX has strong self-development capabilities for software and hardware. Whether it is the software-defined network technology of ground base stations or the underlying integration with the Starlink system, Musk will most likely adopt a self-developed system, excluding traditional communications equipment vendors from his industrial chain, which will bring significant changes to the communications equipment market.
Computing power and energy: An important puzzle piece of Musk's empire
If we look beyond the perspective of the communications industry and stand at the dimension of Musk's entire business empire, the significance of these 80,000 base stations is even more far-reaching.
In the AI era, the communications network is not only used for making calls, but also the nerve ending of the Internet of Everything.
Imagine the future scenario: millions of Tesla FSD autonomous driving cars are driving on the road, and they need an extremely low-latency network to interact with the cloud computing power center; countless Optimus humanoid robots are operating in factories and homes, and they need to receive instructions from the xAI large model in real time; even the future brain-computer interface Neuralink also needs an extremely stable wireless network to transmit neuron signals.
Having an independent, high-coverage communications network is an important prerequisite for the deep integration of Tesla, xAI and SpaceX. Musk does not want the lifeline of his AI ecosystem to be held in the hands of AT&T or Verizon. He wants to build a safe, high-speed exclusive information channel for his autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. Combined with the recent rumors that SpaceX is discussing a merger with Tesla, a comprehensive technology platform covering "space communications, ground transportation and underlying computing power" is gradually emerging.
Conclusion: From "Iron Man" to "Contractor"
From building rockets and launching satellites to now negotiating tower leases and constructing base stations, Musk's business boundaries are becoming more and more "down-to-earth".
This seems to be a step backward, but it is actually an evolution worthy of attention. When the spectrum in the high-altitude orbit is all snatched up and the license for satellite Internet is obtained, Musk once again turns his attention to the surface of the earth to lay out those tangible, touchable physical infrastructures.
At present, this huge plan is still in the early stage of negotiation, and the multi-billion dollar investment and extremely complex regulatory approval are still full of variables. But in this era of rapid evolution of capital and technology, no one dares to underestimate the execution power of this dreamer.
When Starlink satellites twinkle overhead and 80,000 ground base stations are quietly erected, the pattern of the US communications industry is being changed by Musk. It is time for traditional telecom giants to prepare to meet this cross-border competition.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Tech Business", authored by Tech Business, and published with authorization from 36Kr.