Elon Musk says SpaceX can build a wireless carrier in two years

Elon Musk says he can turn SpaceX, his rocket and satellite company, into a major U.S. wireless carrier in just two to three years. The bold claim is running head-on into the telecom industry, according to MarketWatch. Verizon Communications CEO Daniel Schulman, who runs the telecom giant, told investors on Monday that he would welcome the competition.

But Schulman figures it will take at least four to six years for SpaceX to build a working mobile network. Wall Street is watching closely to see what Musk is planning behind the scenes. SpaceX is already buying spectrum licenses from EchoStar, the satellite communications company, and Grain Management, an investment firm.

The company is also in talks to access at least 80,000 cell towers from Crown Castle, which owns wireless infrastructure. Bernstein analysts led by Douglas Harned estimate that SpaceX could spend more than $100 billion over the next eight years on spectrum and towers.

Major carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are currently pushing back against the new competition. Citi analyst Michael Rollins notes that buying an existing telecom company could speed up the launch by a few years. Technology consultant Tim Farrar suggests SpaceX might even try to acquire EchoStar entirely in a stock deal to grab its remaining spectrum.

For your phone bill, a new nationwide player could finally shake up the big carriers. When Elon Musk starts buying spectrum, the phone companies stop sleeping.

Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, edited